With winds and low precipitation causing fire danger to escalate in rangelands around the state, the Bureau of Land Management is keeping a close eye on sage grouse habitat. Senior Resource Advisor Pam Murdock says they’re working hard to control the fires.
"I know that there are a few going on currently," she says. "We have one, I was just informed of yesterday, that did get ignited over the weekend that was in sage grouse core area up in the Bighorn Basin."
She says it isn't easy juggling conflicting priorities.
"Always public and firefighter safety are the number one priority. But we continue to look at ways in which we can minimize the effects of fires in greater sage grouse habitat."
Murdock says that since the 2011 Core Area Strategy was adopted, suppressing fires in the bird's habitat has been high priority. The extra protections are to help stabilize the species which is being considered for endangered species listing in the fall of 2015.