A new sage grouse conservation plan released by the Interior Department has ranchers and energy developers in the West cheering, while environmentalists worry about the endangered bird’s future.
The current conservation plan was established under the Obama administration after years of study. But the revisions released by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke leave it up to the states involved — California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming — to set their own sage grouse target numbers and determine the bird’s habitat, potentially making it easier for development companies to operate in areas that were once off-limits.
The updated standards also no longer call for ranchers to maintain a certain grass height to provide the grouse with cover, says The Bozeman Daily Chronicle.
According to Jim Magagna, executive vice president of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, the revised plan recognizes for the first time the value of sage-grouse habitat for cattle grazing, says the Chronicle.
“Conservationists have responded with resounding criticism, saying the report prioritizes oil and gas over sage grouse and their habitat, undoing the work of existing plans, finalized in 2015 after a decade of study and negotiations,” says High Country News.
Zinke has ordered his department to immediately implement the revisions, even as the agency continues to meet with stakeholders. Additional recommendations are predicted for October or November and in early 2018, says High Country News.
“Millions of sage grouse once populated the West but development, livestock grazing and an invasive grass that encourages wildfires has reduced the bird’s population to fewer than 500,000,” according to the Chronicle.