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Tuesday, May 6, 2014
Feds Initiate New Measures to Protect Imperiled Gunnison Sage Grouse
BLM to Revise Management Plans, ESA Listing Decision Delayed
Contact: Bethany Cotton (503) 327-4923
Washington, DC – WildEarth Guardians agreed not to oppose a request by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) to delay an Endangered Species Act (ESA) listing decision for the imperiled Gunnison sage grouse until mid-November in exchange for commitments by federal agencies to apply additional conservation efforts for the rare bird.
Under the agreement, the Service will issue a final listing determination and a final critical habitat designation by November 12, 2014. In addition, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will update all land-use plans across the range of the Gunnison sage grouse to apply additional conservation protections, and will strengthen interim measures including increasing buffer zones around sage grouse mating areas, called leks, and deferring coal, oil and gas leasing.
“The BLM’s current management plans across the Gunnison sage grouse range ignore scientific expert recommendations and are clearly inadequate to protect the imperiled bird and its habitat,” said Erik Molvar, wildlife biologist with WildEarth Guardians. “An overhaul of land management plans is badly needed to halt the species’ decline and ensure recovery.”
If approved, the legal agreement would require the Service designate critical habitat at the time the final decision is announced. “Designation of critical habitat is imperative for Gunnison sage grouse survival, ensuring protection of sensitive breeding and nesting areas key to recovering these rare birds,” said Bethany Cotton, wildlife program director with WildEarth Guardians. Gunnison sage grouse are threatened by destruction of their native sagebrush habitat due to livestock grazing, residential development, coal mining, oil and gas drilling and associated roads. The Endangered Species Act prohibits activities that destroy or modify a species’ critical habitat.
“Past and current conservation efforts have failed this unique dancing bird,” said Molvar. “The extension offers one last opportunity for local governments and private landowners to adopt or strengthen programs to protect Gunnison sage grouse and the habitats necessary for its survival.”
A landmark 2011 legal agreement between the Service and WildEarth Guardians obligated the federal agency to make final listing decisions on more than 250 imperiled species awaiting ESA listing determinations, among them the Gunnison sage grouse, whose population has plummeted to just 4,000 birds. Native to southeastern Colorado and southwestern Utah, these beautiful grouse are known for their elaborate courtship displays, which lend them their nickname: “dancing birds.”
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