Summit County Citizens Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — The Bureau of Land Management this week took a  step toward preserving habitat for greater sage grouse by limiting disturbance in areas identified as priority habitat.

The iconic western bird  once flourished across the sagebrush ocean of the Great Basin, but has declined in recent decades as a result of habitat fragmentation from agriculture, ranching, oil and gas development and other human development pressures.

Greater sage grouse is one of many species deemed worthy of protection under the Endangered Species Act but precluded from listing because of more immediate threats to other species. More information on the status of the species at this U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service website.

Conservation groups have been pushing federal agencies to list the species, saying the birds need Endangered Species Act protection to survive.

“The sage grouse needs protection under the Endangered Species Act to have any chance at survival. More bureaucratic delay places sage grouse at increased risk of extinction from further habitat destruction and other factors,  Noah Greenwald, endangered species program director at the Center for Biological diversity, said last spring as the group filed a lawsuit pushing for listing.

Greater sage-grouse are ground-dwelling birds up to 30 inches long and 24 inches tall, weighing from two to seven pounds. They have long, pointed tails with legs feathered to the base of the toes. Females are a mottled brown, black, and white. Males are larger and have a large white ruff around their neck and bright yellow air sacks on their breasts, which they inflate during their mating display.  The birds are found at elevations ranging from 4,000 to over 9,000 feet and are highly dependent on sagebrush for cover and food.

The interim BLM management memo provides immediate direction to help the agency determine whether to authorize or continue certain activities in greater sage-grouse habitat while updating regional land-use plans, while a planning direction memo establishes consistent protection measures for the species and its habitat.

The priority habitat includes breeding, late brood-rearing and winter concentration areas. Under the alternative set out in the Planning Direction IM, human-caused disturbance in priority habitat would be limited to less than 2.5 percent  of the species’ total habitat, regardless of surface ownership. In priority habitat areas where more than 2.5 percent of the surface area has already been disturbed, the BLM would not authorize any further disturbance.

Together, the directives address:

• Vegetation Management
• Wildfire Emergency Stabilization and Burned Area Rehabilitation
• Wildfire Suppression and Fuels Management
• Rights of way for facilities such as roads, powerlines, pipelines and wind farms
• Leasable minerals, such as coal, oil and gas
• Locatable minerals, such as gold, silver and copper
• Saleable minerals, such as sand, stone and gravel
• Grazing
• Recreation
• Travel Management
• Grasshopper and Mormon Cricket Control and Management
• Wild Horse and Burro Management
• Realty Actions, such as land exchanges, transfers and sales; and
• Vegetation and Resources Monitoring

“The aim of these science-based measures is to maintain and restore flourishing populations of greater sage-grouse and sagebrush habitat,” BLM Director Bob Abbey said. ”We are working to do this in a way that protects the health of our land, while also facilitating safe and responsible energy development and recreational opportunities that power our economy. By proactively addressing sage grouse conservation concerns on BLM lands, we also hope to maintain the widest possible range of options for our neighboring landowners.”

The guidance in these documents applies to BLM activities in California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming. Greater sage-grouse currently use up to 47 million acres of land managed by the BLM.

Today’s announcement builds on a series of federal and state initiatives underway to protect the species while ensuring that energy production, recreational access and other uses of federal lands continue. These programs include Wyoming’s Sage Grouse Initiative developed under the leadership of Governor Mead; the BLM’s National Greater Sage-Grouse Planning Strategy; and the ongoing implementation of the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies Comprehensive Strategy.

The guidance also covers actions in Preliminary General Habitat, which was also identified through a collaborative effort with state wildlife agencies.

The BLM will refine the maps of priority and general greater sage-grouse habitat through an ongoing planning process.

Both directives are effective immediately. The interim management directive will remain in effect until land use plans are amended or revised to conserve greater sage-grouse and its habitat as outlined in BLM’s July 2011 National Greater Sage Grouse Planning Strategy.

A national technical team with representatives from the BLM, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the U.S. Geological Survey and State Fish and Wildlife agencies developed the conservation strategy.

The team is charged with ensuring that the relevant science on greater sage-grouse conservation is considered, reasonably interpreted and accurately presented, with risks and uncertainties clearly delineated; providing conservation objectives in measurable terms to guide planning; and identifying science-based conservation measures.

IM 2012-043, Greater Sage-Grouse Interim Management Policies and Procedures, is available at http://blm.gov/f4jd

IM 2012-044, BLM National Greater Sage-Grouse Land Use Planning Strategy, is available at http://blm.gov/g4jd.