Columbian Sharp-Tailed Grouse in Trouble, Conservation Organizations Request ''Pardon''

Coalition Warns Feds of Duty to Issue Finding on Endangered Species Act Petition

Santa Fe, NM - WildEarth Guardians and conservation groups from across the Western United States sent a warning to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over the agency’s failure to determine whether the Columbian Sharp-Tailed Grouse warrants protection under the Endangered Species Act. The grouse, which once ranged across 11 western states, has vanished from over 90 percent of its historic range. The groups submitted a petition to list the grouse over a year ago.

In a related action last week, WildEarth Guardians and nine other groups across the West called for President Bush to extend the "pardon" he will grant a Thanksgiving turkey to five types of imperiled western grouse, including the Columbian Sharp-Tailed Grouse, by granting these endangered native birds protection under the Endangered Species Act. See www.fguardians.org for video news release. Bush will pardon a Thanksgiving turkey today.

"Protection for the Columbian Sharp-Tailed Grouse is urgently needed to avoid a downward spiral," stated Nicole Rosmarino of WildEarth Guardians. "Inaction may cause this rare bird to join the many other species that have gone extinct due to delays in listing," she continued.

Columbian Sharp-Tailed Grouse were once described as one of the most abundant birds in the West, and early pioneers reported flocks of thousands that "darkened the sky" when they flew. Their unique mating dance is one of the most awesome animal spectacles in the West. Today, this grouse has suffered extensive population and distribution declines. The coalition contends it is in danger of becoming extinct unless it is protected under the Endangered Species Act.

Columbian Sharp-Tailed Grouse occur in shrub-steppe, mountain shrub, and riparian habitats in the Intermountain West in the United States and British Columbia. Currently, only isolated populations of Columbian Sharp-Tailed Grouse exist in northern Washington, northeastern Nevada, western Idaho, south central Idaho, southeastern Idaho, northern Utah, south-central Wyoming, northwestern Colorado and central British Columbia.

The Columbian Sharp-Tailed Grouse was first petitioned for Endangered Species Act listing in 1995, but the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service denied the request despite dramatic declines, asserting that tracts of land enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), an agricultural land retirement program intended to control soil erosion, provided enough quality habitat to ensure the birds survival. Since it was denied listing, the grouse has vanished from the state of Montana, and threats continue to escalate. Changes to the CRP have allowed livestock grazing on enrolled lands, which harms grouse nesting and brood-rearing habitat. Although voluntary conservation plans were created by many states, since listing was denied, these plans have not been implemented, or in the case of Idaho (home to 80 percent of the population), have been abandoned completely.

"The Columbian Sharp-Tailed Grouse is another in a long list of residents of the Sagebrush Sea that face an uncertain future," said Mark Salvo, director of the Sagebrush Sea Campaign. "The sagebrush-steppe ecosystem is in tatters, and if the grouse could talk, it would tell us so."

This grouse faces numerous other threats to its continued survival, including conversion of native habitat to agriculture, livestock grazing, mechanical and chemical "treatments" of habitat, application of pesticides, altered fire regimes, invasion of non-native species, both excessive and accidental hunting, inbreeding/reduced genetic fitness, and the placement and construction of roads and transmission lines.

Conservation groups joining WildEarth Guardians in today’s notice over the Columbian Sharp-Tailed Grouse petition include: Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, Center for Biological Diversity, Center for Native Ecosystems, the Larch Company, Oregon Natural Desert Association, the Sagebrush Sea Campaign, and Western Watersheds Project.

The Columbian Sharp-Tailed Grouse is one of several imperiled grouse species for which WildEarth Guardians is seeking protection as part of its "Western Grouse Project." Other imperiled western grouse needing Endangered Species Act protection are the Greater Sage-Grouse, Lesser Prairie-Chicken, Gunnison Sage-Grouse, and the Mono Basin Sage-Grouse. These grouse face threats similar to those affecting Columbian Sharp-Tailed Grouse. Protecting these birds will also provide beneficial effects to the ecosystems they inhabit, and help recover other imperiled species.


 

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