Wyoming and the federal government are still butting heads over how to manage sage grouse. But some state officials are hoping election results could fix that.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released their latest federal draft plan for managing sage grouse across 10 states in the West. For the feds, data is showing that the bird’s population is trending downwards, which is why they released a more strict management plan.
“The U.S. Geological Survey analyzed state-collected lek data and reported estimated range-wide population declines of nearly 80 percent from 1966-2021 and of 41 percent from 2002-2021,” according to the BLM’s executive summary of the plan.
Now that the BLM’s latest draft is released, state agencies have one more period to comment before the final version is released. Initial reactions from Wyoming officials are unhappy, but they’re still digesting the thousand-plus pages document.
“I haven't read all of it. There's no way you can read all of it from Friday to now,” said Bob Budd, chair of the Wyoming Sage Grouse Implementation Team, which oversees state policy on the bird.
But so far he said, “the federal plan went far beyond what we think we can even legally do.”
He gave an example of the BLM wanting “raw data.” Basically, data on sage grouse mating grounds, or leks, from private properties. Wyoming doesn’t do that in its management plan, which was tweaked for years to appease ranchers, energy developers and wildlife advocates, while also trying to keep sage grouse from dwindling. It’s centered around the concept of ‘core areas’ – about 15 million acres of prime sage grouse habitat that limit things like energy development.
The BLM ok’d Wyoming’s management plan and adopted it in 2015. Wyoming’s Gov. Mark Gordon further cemented this plan in his 2019 sage grouse Executive Order.
But more recently, the BLM said Wyoming’s plan, and others across the West, are not fully working – the bird and its sagebrush habitat are still at risk of declining across 10 states.
“Sage grouse populations have continued to decline, and recent science shows that we need to once again update our plans to allow decisive action across state boundaries to achieve lasting benefits for sage grouse and sagebrush habitat,” according to a BLM press release.
So, Wyoming went back to the drawing board and offered more state-specific suggestions last year. Those included adding new areas to the core area and taking some previous areas out. Budd said the BLM ignored many of the suggestions in the updated draft.
“So yeah, I guess we are a little frustrated,” Budd said.
The BLM is proposing to designate 636,352 acres in Wyoming as Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACECs) – which puts further protections on the land from development. While it’s an acreage reduction from initial BLM drafts of the plan, Wyoming officials have said any additional land protections are unnecessary.
“We have shown how to successfully manage this bird and do so in a way that allows for protection of core habitat alongside responsible development,” Gordon said in a press release.
These types of comments will be reflected in Gordon’s ‘consistency review’, which is a sixty-day window for governors to say what won’t work in this plan. If the feedback isn’t put into the BLM’s final version, lawsuits are more than likely.
Budd said that the 60-day window doesn’t close until after the new year, meaning the BLM is running up against a theoretical deadline – Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration on Jan. 20.
“Gives them, ostensibly, 15 days to respond to the issues raised in the consistency review by all 11 western states,” he said. “Not real likely they're going to get that done.”
Presidents appoint who heads up the U.S. Department of the Interior, which oversees the BLM. In a press release, Gordon said he’s hoping that’ll be favorable to Wyoming under Trump.
The state is asking for things like: more say in the plan and less restrictions on oil and gas development.
Meanwhile, some wildlife advocacy groups have qualms with Wyoming’s suggestions, and even say the BLM’s plan doesn’t go far enough.
“This plan will continue the sage grouse’s grim progress towards extinction,” said Randi Spivak, public lands policy director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The small improvements made are still grossly inadequate to recover the species and don’t reflect the abundance of science telling us what’s necessary to save the sage grouse. It’s too bad it took years to get to this deeply flawed plan.”
The groups would like to see things like larger buffers around critical sage grouse habitat and more limits on livestock grazing to protect habitat.
The Upper Green River Alliance’s Linda Baker said in a previous interview with Wyoming Public Radio that sage grouse are a keystone species.
“If we're taking care of the annual cycle of sage grouse year round, then we're also protecting habitats for mule deer and pronghorn,” she said, pointing to that U.S. Geological Survey data that shows the bird’s population is declining.
But, Wyoming officials, like Budd, are highlighting state-specific data which shows more positive sage grouse trends in recent years. Budd added that’s a reflection of Wyoming’s management strategy working.
There is common ground for the feds, state and many conservation groups. None want to see the bird listed under the Endangered Species Act.
“Every bird is protected, every acre of habitat is protected, which means that it could bring a lot of things to a grinding halt,” Budd said, adding it’s on both public and private lands. “So we all have a vested interest above and beyond the fact an ethical dedication to not lose a species that are iconic.”
