Issues
Utah county adopts sage grouse conservation plan. In an effort to avoid a federal listing of the Gunnison sage-grouse, the Box Elder County Commission has endorsed a pilot program to protect the bird. The plan includes poisoning ravens, removing pinyon and juniper woodlands, controlling noxious cheat grass, and preventing fires in the habitat region. As Utah and other Western states continue to draft conservation plans for the bird, Box Elder is the first county to implement Utah’s grouse conservation strategy.
LuAnn Adams, the Box Elder commissioner, explained the plan as important step in showing the Buruea of Land Management that Utah is ready and able to protect the bird without federal infringement. “We are trying to be good stewards of the land. We hope BLM will follow our lead, but they have processes that they have to go through.” The plan will not be made public until approved by federal wildlife officials.
Sage grouse hot topic at Jewell vote. On Wednesday, an afternoon confirmation vote of 87-11 confirmed Sally Jewell as the 51st secretary of the Interior. But the decision of whether or not to place the Gunnison sage-grouse on the federal endangered species list almost kept things from moving forward. The final vote was decided just shortly after Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho) lifted a procedural hold he had put in place in order to ensure the Interior Department would support Idaho’s plan for conserving the sage grouse. Check out Roll Call for the full story.
Third draft of lesser prairie chicken plan sent to USFWS. Wildlife agencies in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado have submitted the third draft of a range-wide conservation plan to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) in an effort to avoid a federal listing of the lesser prairie chicken. The plan includes habitat management goals and voluntary conservation practices, including Candidate Conservation Agreements with Assurances for landowners. Ross Melinchuk, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department deputy executive director for natural resources, commented on the importance of the plan and the work already being done to conserve the prairie chicken:
“While we do not need a chicken on every acre, we do need to have the right acres in the right areas to conserve the species, and we are getting there in Texas through voluntary landowner agreements and related efforts. It is noteworthy that 44 landowners across the Texas Panhandle and Rolling Plains have enrolled 427,685 acres in voluntary conservation agreements to help conserve this species, a nearly four-fold increase since 2010.”
The Range-wide Conservation Plan for the Lesser Prairie Chicken can be found HERE.
In the News
Pay Now or Pay Later for Sage Grouse Protection. Twin Falls Times-News, Editorial. The sage grouse sits where the spotted owl sat those decades ago. In 2010, federal officials declared that the sage grouse warranted endangered species protections but held off from listing it. Then in 2011, a federal judge approved a settlement requiring a final listing decision for the bird by 2015. Unfortunately, Idaho hasn’t learned from Oregon.
ESA’s 40th birthday should be a time for reflection – and reform. Visalia Times-Delta, Op-Ed. Property owners should be treated as partners, not pariahs. Under the current, ambiguous definition of “harm” to a listed species, a property owner can be subject to civil or criminal sanctions even for actions that have only an indirect effect on protected plants or wildlife. This creates a framework of conflict, rather than cooperation, between regulators and landowners. It’s past time to revisit the terms of the ESA and introduce real accountability and balance, so we can be confident that resources are being used effectively, species are actually being protected — and the economy is not being unnecessarily endangered.
President Requests $1.6 Billion In Fiscal Year 2014 For U.S. Fish And Wildlife Service. The Chattanoogan. In support of the President’s Blueprint for a Secure Energy Future, which calls for safe and responsible development of our nation’s domestic energy resources, the Service’s budget includes an additional $7.4 million to support energy development including funding for enhanced studies of renewable energy projects, technical assistance in project design, and Endangered Species Act consultation.
Black Hills woodpecker might gain protection. Associated Press. A woodpecker that depends on intense wildfires for the standing dead trees where it feeds on insects is being considered for protection under the Endangered Species Act. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said it will take a closer look at the black-backed woodpecker. A decision is due in a year.
Box Elder adopts state’s first sage grouse plan. Salt Lake Tribune. The plan makes little reference to overgrazing, viewed among environmentalists as the leading culprit in the decline of the sage grouse, but officials promised it will improve habitat and reduce threats, chiefly wildfire and nest raiding by ravens. “We are trying to be good stewards of the land,” said LuAnn Adams, the Box Elder commissioner assigned to public lands. “We hope
Protecting Sage Grouse – And Rural Economies. Utah Pulse, Nature Conservancy. The birds themselves, and their struggle against extinction, are headline worthy in their own right. But the recent debate over the grouse is fueled by even larger and more complex issues. The grouse, and the way we react to their dwindling numbers, has come to represent an important crossroads for Westerners.
Biodiversity: Local governments to collaborate on Gunnison sage-grouse conservation as federal listing looms. Summit County Citizens Voice. Concern over a federal proposal to add Gunnison sage-grouse to the Endangered Species List and designate 1.7 million acres of critical habitat in Colorado and Utah has spurred local governments to sign on to a regional collaborative conservation effort aimed at protecting the birds.
