New Report: Local Regulations Inadequate to Protect Gunnison Sage Grouse

Federal Endangered Species Act Protection Essential to the Survival of the Species

Additional Contact:
Megan Mueller, Senior Scientist, Rocky Mountain Wild, (303) 704-9760


DENVER, Colorado–In a detailed analysis released today by WildEarth Guardians and Rocky Mountain Wild, state and local regulatory efforts to protect the Gunnison sage grouse were found to be inadequate to protect the bird from urban sprawl, poorly managed grazing, oil and gas development and other threats. These efforts do not provide a workable alternative to Endangered Species Act protections for the species, which hovers on the brink of extinction throughout its two-state range.

“While Gunnison and San Miguel Counties are  at least making an effort to protect the Gunnison sage grouse, most counties in the range of the species are doing little or nothing to prevent the ongoing destruction and fragmentation of Gunnison sage grouse habitat,” said Megan Mueller, Senior Scientist with Rocky Mountain Wild. “Taken together, the protections put in place so far are far too little to guarantee that Gunnison sage grouse will persist even at today’s low population levels.”

In order to be considered adequate to protect an imperiled species under the Endangered Species Act, local and state regulations need to demonstrate science-based effectiveness as well as a certainty that they will be implemented.

“Right now, very few of the local regulations to protect Gunnison sage grouse are actually required, and most counties lack the kind of science-based protections that are needed to assure the survival of this spectacular bird,” added Erik Molvar, Wildlife Biologist with WildEarth Guardians. “For example, some agencies are using a tiny 0.6-mile buffer around leks, or dancing and breeding sites, which only protects 4% of the most critical nesting habitat, and in spite of scientific studies that show that developments that occur farther out cause breeding populations to decline.”

The report also highlights livestock overgrazing as a pervasive threat. Overgrazing strips away the grasses needed for hiding cover by grouse during the critical nesting and early brood-rearing periods.

“Scientific studies have shown that sage grouse need grasses at least 7 inches tall to hide from predators,” added Molvar. “The current guidelines allow shorter grass heights that have no scientific basis, and most county plans don’t have any standards for grazing at all. In effect, overgrazing is stripping away the hiding cover, making sage grouse more vulnerable to predators that would have never been able to find the grouse under natural conditions.”

The report highlights the failure of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which manages slightly more than half of the habitat for the species, to apply science-based sage grouse protections in its land-use plans throughout the range of the Gunnison sage grouse.

Because the greater sage-grouse still occupies 56% if its historic range and has populations large enough to persist if threats are addressed, planning efforts by BLM and others have greater potential to emplace conservation measures that are adequate to conserve the species and alleviate the need for Endangered Species Act protections.

In contrast, the Gunnison sage-grouse occupies only 7% of its historic range, with a total population of fewer than 5,000 birds. Six of the seven remaining populations are so small and isolated that they are at risk of extirpation even in the absence of further threats. Thus, although BLM has recently announced an intention to begin the process of amending its land-use plans to improve protections for Gunnison sage-grouse, the agencies’ failure to act over the 14 years it has been on the Candidate Species list means that it will be a substantial challenge to put the bird on the path to recovery without the protections of the ESA.  

“Given that the Gunnison sage grouse has fewer than 5,000 birds left in its worldwide population, it’s surprising that the BLM hasn’t already amended its Resource Management Plans to apply the protections that Gunnison sage grouse need to survive, as the agency is already doing for the greater sage grouse,” observed Mueller. “Oil and gas development is already encroaching on key habitats of several Gunnison sage grouse populations, but there are few protections to prevent this type of industrial development from wiping out even more sage grouse habitat.”

Immediate and decisive action is necessary to put effective safeguards in place to protect Gunnison sage grouse, according to the groups.

“Endangered Species Act protection will add accountability to efforts to conserve the species, bringing additional federal funding to conservation efforts, ensuring that plans to conserve the bird are based on science and not politics, and buttressing the current piecemeal effort to conserve the species with a comprehensive, mandatory approach that requires everyone to do their fair share,” concluded Mueller. “Above all, it will ensure that future generations have the opportunity to be inspired by watching the Gunnison sage-grouse dance at first light, and to enjoy the abundant wildlife that depend on the same habitat, including elk, deer and antelope.”

Download the report.

 


 

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