Issues

BLM Announces Greater Sage Grouse Draft Plan for Northwest Colorado. Today, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced its draft Resource Management Plan (RMP) Amendments and Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Greater sage grouse in Colorado’s Northwest District. The planning area includes 8 million acres of BLM, National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, State, local, and private lands located in northwestern Colorado – an area in which the BLM and U.S. Forest Service administer approximately 1.6 million surface acres and 2.7 million acres of Federal oil and gas mineral estate. The announcement also marks the beginning of a 90-day public comment period which is now underway and ends November 14th.

According to the BLM, this Draft RMP Amendment/Draft EIS is one of 15 separate planning efforts being undertaken as part of the BLM’s and  U.S. Forest Service’s National Greater Sage-Grouse Planning Strategy. E&E News (sub. req’d) also reports the Northwest District proposal is the first of seven planned district wide plans BLM is working on in regard to the sage grouse and its 11-state habitat range. Other RMP plans have been proposed for field offices in Wyoming, Montana and South Dakota. Read the full notice from the Federal Register HERE.

Are Conservation Banks the Answer for the LPC? A column this week in USA TODAY highlighted the potential of conservation banks in preserving the Lesser Prairie Chicken (LPC). Wayne Walker, president of Common Ground Capital in Edmond, Oklahoma, noted that the exchange the conservation bank allows may be the best answer to ensure the protection of the LPC while maintaining the regional economies and industries. Mr. Walker explains:

“So we face a classic ‘protect the environment’ vs. ‘create jobs and economic growth’ scenario. Unlike most clashes between these often competing interests, there is a solution to this one where both sides can get what they most want. Here’s how: by adopting an already well-established process known as conservation banking.

“According to the National Mitigation Banking Association, conservation banks are permanently protected lands that contain natural resource values for species that are threatened and endangered. Conservation banks function to offset damage to threatened and endangered species that occurred elsewhere.

“Thus, if you damage the habitat for a protected species, or the species itself, you must compensate with additional improved habitat for that same species in the appropriate ecological region.”

While the current population size of the LPC brings any type of federal listing into question, some stakeholders in the habitat region have supported these types of exchange programs as a viable option to conserve both the LPC as well as industry operations, as the Wall Street Journal discussed last month. Learn more about the LPC listing debate on ESA Watch.

In the News

FWS lists Utah perennial herb. E&E News (sub req’d). The agency determined that the plant — which is found only on gypsum outcrops in the limestone layer of the state’s Kaibab formation — has been threatened by gypsum mining and motorized recreation. It has also declined because of grazing and invasive species. The designation will not shut down mining in the area, but the Bureau of Land Management will have to work with FWS before authorizing new development.

Spotted owl now endangered species candidate under California Endangered Species Act. Fort Bragg Advocate News. The California Fish and Game Commission voted 3-2 this week to make the northern spotted owl a candidate for listing under the California Endangered Species Act.The vote came in response to a petition filed by the Environmental Protection Information Center, which requested the owl’s listing as “threatened” or “endangered.” The candidacy is an important step in the listing processes.

Protection Proposed for Minnows, Miles of Brazos River. Texas Tribune. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed Endangered Species Act protection for the sharpnose shiner and smalleye shiner, two species of minnows that inhabit the prairie streams of the upper Brazos River watershed.

Gierisch mallow listed as endangered species, critical habitat identified. St. George Utah. On Tuesday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the desert plant Gierisch mallow as a protected species under the Endangered Species Act and identified areas important to the species recovery.

Lawsuit planned over endangered sparrow habitat. Associated Press. The Center for Biological Diversity is planning to sue the federal government over an endangered bird’s habitat in Everglades National Park. The center filed Tuesday a formal notice of intent to sue the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It says the two agencies have violated the Endangered Species Act with water releases during the dry season that have destroyed the Cape Sable seaside sparrow’s habitat and decimated the birds’ population.

Defeat the government in sage hen battle. Mason Valley News (LTE by Fred Fulston, Smith Valley Resident). As you know, the Bi-State sage grouse is considered a different sage hen here in western Nevada and adjoining California, from the rest of the sage hen. It has been considered to be listed without listing the rest of the Nevada sage hen population. If the sage hen is listed, the livestock ranchers could lose their grazing rights. This has happened to me before with the listing of the bighorn sheep in California.

BLM holding Wyoming hearings on TransWest power line. Associated Press. TransWest, part of The Anschutz Corp., has proposed running the line from near Sinclair, Wyo., through Colorado and Utah to an area near Boulder City, Nev. Federal officials say a somewhat different route will minimize impacts to greater sage grouse and roadless areas.

BLM finds reasonable balance in Montana land plans. Billings Gazette (Op-Ed by Mike Penfold, Bureau of Land Management). The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2010 ruled that sage grouse warrant protection under the federal Endangered Species Act. The birds have not been added to the list of threatened and endangered species only because other species currently have higher priority.