Protecting the Sage Grouse

Protecting the Sage Grouse

Protecting the Sage Grouse. I'm Greg Martin with Lacy Gray for Colorado Ag Today.

The sage grouse issue has been a hot topic for ag producers and politicians alike all across the western U.S. Governor Hickenlooper has released an executive order calling for a voluntary market-based protection system for the greater sage grouse.

GRAY: The executive order is aimed at protecting the bird and keeping it off the endangered species list by allowing ranchers and landowners to sell credits for habitat improvements to industries like oil and gas that have a negative impact on grouse habitat. The sage grouse is found in a dozen western states and the population has been declining for years down from around 16-million birds to now less than 500-thousand.

MARTIN: Listing the sage grouse would have a lot of detrimental effects on agriculture and in some cases the U.S. military. In Washington State one military bases may have to address the issue due to firing ranges in sage grouse territory. It would cause cattle producers to change how they run their herds. Hickenlooper says that a listing by the government would have a "significant and detrimental economic impact to the state."

GRAY: Already, Montana, Wyoming and Utah have set up priorities for sage grouse protection. States have been undertaking rigorous mitigation practices in an effort to keep the birds off the list. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has until Sept. 30 to decide, once again, if the greater sage grouse should be protected under the Endangered Species Act.

MARTIN: And that's Colorado Ag Today. I'm Greg Martin, thanks for listening on the Ag Information Network of the West.

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