Sage Grouse Listing Denied
By George Wuerthner, 3-05-10
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The greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) is a large, ground-dwelling, chicken-like bird, measuring up to 30 inches in length, is two feet tall and weighs between two to seven pounds. The sage grouse is an iconic bird of the wide-open sagebrush steppe of the western United States.
Sage grouse are found in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, western Colorado, Wyoming, eastern California and several Canadian provinces. They currently occupy 56 percent of their former range—but at nothing close to their original densities and many isolated populations are likely to become extinct in the next 30-50 years.
The once abundant bird has been in a long-term decline and was petitioned for listing under the Endangered Species Act. The Bush administration is alleged to have interfered with previous attempts to list the bird and the FWS was ordered by a court to review the bird’s status.
Today the US FWS announced today that the bird warranted listing under the Endangered Species Act, but would be “precluded”. A disjunct isolated sage grouse population along the California-Nevada border formerly known as the Mono Basin sage grouse was also determined to warrant listing but was precluded as well. Such a designation offers no protection to the bird.
Controversial
The sage grouse may be one of the most controversial species petitioned for ESA protection in recent history. Listing would no doubt restrict oil and gas exploration, livestock grazing, and ORV travel on public lands. Warranted but precluded are how administrations avoid the political fall out from listing controversial species, so the decision by the Obama administration to dodge listing while disappointing, is not surprising.
While I have no particular knowledge of political backroom dealings, it’s not difficult to imagine that powerful western Democrats like Senator Harry Reid of Nevada and Senator Max Baucus of Montana were likely campaigning to keep the bird off the ESA list.
Bird Once Abundant
At one time the bird was very abundant. I have read historical accounts of settlers knocking birds out of the air with sticks while riding home from school and hunters in Nevada filling wagons with the birds.
I remember talking with a Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks biologist about his childhood when they hunted sage grouse near Dillon, Montana and always killed their limit. Today you would court yourself lucky to see a sage grouse in many places where they were formally abundant.
While indiscriminate and unrestricted hunting no doubt had a local effect on some sage grouse, regulated hunting per say is not likely a major factor in sage grouse decline over most of the West.
Livestock Major Factor in Decline
Perhaps the biggest obstacle to listing was from ranchers and for good reason. Sage grouse are negatively affected in a number of ways by livestock production. First, despite their name, sage grouse chicks forage on insects in riparian zones during the first few weeks of their lives. Riparian zones have been severely degraded by livestock, and indeed, some estimates suggest that 90% of most riparian areas are in poor condition.
Livestock grazing also removes grass cover for the birds. Even in “good” condition rangeland, grasses may be cropped so short that grouse may be vulnerable to predators. Many rangelands have plenty of sagebrush, but little grass to provide effective hiding cover for grouse.
Fences are another problem for sage grouse. Predators like hawks use fence posts to scan the surrounding landscape for prey like grouse. Grouse are also poor fliers and too frequently wind up flying into barbwire.
Another problem is the loss of sagebrush habitat due to herbicide treatments. In many parts of the West, sagebrush is treated as a “weed” to be eradicated to promote the growth of more grass for livestock.
Oil and Gas, Farming, all have effect.
Other factors that have compounded the negatives impacts of livestock production upon sage grouse are the additional loss of sagebrush habitat to farming. In many parts of the West, sagebrush has been converted into wheat fields, and alfalfa fields.
Other development, in particular, oil and gas exploration and drilling impacts the grouse as well. The activity associated with major development can disturb grouse which are forced to abandon good habitat to oil rigs. Plus telephone poles and power lines, wind farms, strung across open sage creates perches for hawks and other aerial predators.
Next Steps
Senator Reid recently requested more funds for sage grouse protection and advocates “voluntary” efforts to save the grouse. Such “solutions” is typical of politicians who don’t want to do anything. Throw more money at the situation to buy time and make it appear that you’re doing something good for the species. Some changes might actually benefit the bird, but such changes, and funding could be done even if the species were listed. The goal of such diversionary tactics is to delay listing as long as possible.
Will any good come from a warranted but precluded decision? Perhaps. The threat of listing can sometimes motive people to change some of their practices to benefit a threatened species. Intransitive ranchers might be motivated to change grazing practices and oil and gas companies might accept some restrictions on when and where they can drill for energy if they believe cooperation may preclude listing under the ESA.
It is unlikely that environmental groups will accept the warranted but precluded decision, and will seek to force listing through the courts. But as far as the administration is concerned, this is fine. Winding one’s way through the courts takes time, and even if ultimately successful, the Obama administration and/or any future administration can always blame environmentalists for any restrictions placed upon resource exploitation activities. It’s how the political game is played. One can only hope that time does not run out for the sage grouse while games are played.
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Comments
In Senator Reid's Nevada, sage-grouse occur on the southern edge of their range.
We've been seeing major purposeful sagebrush destruction occurring on Nevada BLM lands. Mashing and chopping of sagebrush in big areas, followed by then using Tebuthiuron herbicide to kill even more sagebrush in the surrounding area. And this is being called "restoration".
Funded by tax dollars AND also in several instances by sale of BLM lands near Las Vegas.
I actually think Ely BLM there is trying to wipe out key sage-grouse and pygmy rabbit habitats. So the critters aren't a "nuisance" to all of Harry's industrial wind developer and water miner buddies. Ranchers, of course, are the "cover" for this kind of thing. Range "improvement" for grouse and cows. Except no one told the grouse they were supposed to like bare dirt and dead sage. The ranchers these days are typically Pat Mulroy, other land and water speculators, and gold mines.
I suppose since there has been so much habitat destruction in the US, that we could start restoration on the east coast by bulldozing all of the buildings and force folks to live in tents or caves, then we wouldn't need nearly so much fuel and power.
We need to use a little common sense which is never going to exist when environmental lawyers and groups can become millionaires at taxpayer expense.
The problem of any species isn't just about numbers. You can have a lot of animals and still have them go extinct--the best example is the passenger pigeon.
The problem for the sage grouse is the populations are becoming increasingly fragmented by degradation of their habitat. But it's not just sage grouse that is being impacted. And that is the important point. Sage grouse are indicators of ecosystem health.
The decline of sage grouse is indication that sage steppe habitat is being degraded. It's like trout declining in a river because the river is being polluted.
Lots more big old golden eagles roosting around, tons more hawks, falcons and coyotes, fer shure. But that's not a factor?
Sage grouse do well enough with predators if they have good cover.
And even where there is "good" condition range, it may not be suitable for grouse because the way range is rated has to do with the plants on a site. So you can a good cover of desirable grasses, but they may still be only 4 inches tall--not enough to hide a grouse from a predator.
So range condition doesn't really tell you enough to know whether it's good wildlife habitat.
I suggest you go sit on the leks in the early morning and watch for the grouse to see jsut what happens.
Then go thru the brush looking for feathers, destroyed nests and baby chicks.
There have always been coyotes, bob cats, and so forth around. Now I will admit that the extirpation of wolves may have allowed coyotes to increase beyond what they may have been in the past, but in general, sage grouse are perfectly capable of surviving in the face of predators if they have good condition habitat.
There are lots of studies showing that loss of grass cover makes grouse more vulnerable to predators. Fences, and telephone poles are also death on grouse because they provide perches for birds of prey.
Indeed, if I recall correctly, one study confirmed that there was no successful reproduction of sage grouse within a half mile of any telephone pole, power line, or other prominent perch due to aerial predators like hawks.
While they do need sagebrush, sagebrush alone is not enough.
I recall talking with some biologists at the Charles M. Russell Wildlife Refuge years ago who were studying Sharptail grouse, and how they found that even if there was good condition range (defined as having a large percentage of the grasses and other plants you would expect given the site), the grouse were still vulnerable because they required more than 10 inches of residual cover to hide from predators. Well on many public rangelands, there is seldom 10 inches of cover.
And keep in mind, the decline of sage grouse is due to a host of factors, not just grazing. It's farming which has converted a lot of their habitat into wheat fields, it's oil and gas development, the conversion of many acres to cheatgrass from sagebrush, and even West Nile Virus that is doing the birds in. They might be able to handle one of these things, but the combination of all these factors is too much.
Interestingly enough teh largest lek I have counted was near Baroil, Wyoming where it is an old still active oil field. My father in law worked there over 70 years ago, and it si still producing.
Certainly human uses impact everything including sage grouse, but trying to micromanage other people via money making lawsuits is not the way to protect them. Just like many things that were once plentiful where you live and are now decreased or gone, civilization may require some decreased numbers in various species.
We simply have to make protecting nature a cooperative situation and get completely out of the money making for billion dollar "non profits". That sucks money out of the system to finance projects, and of course the "non profits do not put any of that money back into wildlife funds, it increases their net worth.
Thanks for your thoughts.
A few points.
I will agree with you that sometimes the ratio of predators to prey has been changed for some reason. However, if there is a change, we should look for the ultimate causes.
Predators are only successful when wildlife is vulnerable. They are vulnerable because of various changes as such as I mentioned--loss of hiding cover, etc.
We need to treat the ultimate causes rather than the symptoms.
As for the grass, this is high desert, and the snow is going off as the birds start the strut, and the temps are pretty numbingly cold. There is no way you are going to have 10 inch grass in this country by the time the chicks hatch. In fact the mountains or irrigated areas are the only place you are going to have grass like that anytime. I guess that is one reason they like ranch lawns. Again, have you ever been out on a lek during the strut in the pre dawn? You need pocket warmers in your shoes and pockets, and coat and hat.
The cause is mostly predators, that being said, I have no idea how windmills for wind farms will affect them, and anything else is speculation at this point, no one can KNOW.
There is a fairly good sized herd of wild horses plus antelope around the one by Bairoil, but the chickens thrive. A few years ago the drought was so severe that all of the colts died after environmental lawsuits prevented rounding up and thinning the horse herd. The chickens are still there, but when the uranium mine donated trucks and water and helped BLM haul water to reservoirs to keep as much wildlife as possible from dying, the environmetnal groups were too busy preparing more lawsuits to get out of their air conditioned offices and haul so much as a cup of water.