Recent Sage Grouse Decisions Bring Good and Bad News

Recent Sage Grouse Decisions Bring Good and Bad News

Although the federal government determined not to list the greater sage grouse under the Endangered Species Act, soon after came the release of the federal land management agencies' plan to manage the sage grouse habitat.

Idaho Cattle Association Executive Vice President Wyatt Prescott shares the frustration of those involved with the incredible collaborative effort of the state plan that was blatantly ignored in the federal plan.

Prescott: "The most disturbing portion of all of this to me is — in the state of Idaho the two primary threats to sage grouse is wildfire and invasive species. Realistically the only tool we have to manage those is grazing. Yet only improper grazing is a secondary threat to sage grouse — only improper grazing. Yet this new land use plan — these final last minute adjustments where they moved the goal posts, shifted the focus on to grazing management on all grazing and ultimately, the root of the problem is that it is actually going to hurt the sage grouse habitat in the long run because they are so focus on the controlling of grazing they are not focused on the actual problems and threats in Idaho of the sage grouse."

The Idaho Cattle Association, along with the National Cattlemen's Beef Association and the Public Lands Council, American Farm Bureau Federation and the Idaho Farm Bureau Federation filed an amicus brief regarding the BLM and Forest Services restrictive land management plan that detrimental to the local conservation efforts already in place that have helped the sage grouse to thrive.

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