The Bureau of Land Management has released new documents to guide its sage grouse protection strategy. Last year, the agency announced new sage grouse management plans covering more than 60 million acres across 10 states. Those plans were a major factor in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision not to list the bird as endangered, but they didn't include many details about how the protections would actually be implemented.
The new guidance documents, called instruction memos, explain how regional BLM field offices should evaluate the effects of cattle grazing, oil drilling and other activities on the bird. The offices will use those evaluations to make permitting decisions.
When it comes to oil and gas development, the memos say the BLM will give priority consideration to projects outside of sage grouse habitat, and least priority to proposed drilling inside critical sage grouse habitat.
Conversely, for grazing, the BLM will focus its attention on leases inside critical sage grouse habitat to make sure they meet the criteria for a healthy ecosystem.
The BLM hosted workshops across the West to get input in drafting the memos. Environmental groups in Wyoming praised the final product, but several mining and ranching groups are still suing over the management plans.
