Salazar says sage grouse deserves federal endangered species protection but will "have to wait"

[depakid]

A male Greater sage grouse puts on a display near Burns during mating season in 2004.
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The Greater sage grouse will have to wait in line with hundreds of other imperiled species before it's protected under the Endangered Species Act. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar today announced the government's long-awaited decision about the status of the chicken-sized bird, a cornerstone species of the sagebrush sea that covers part of Oregon and ten other western states.

The "warranted but precluded" decision means the bird deserves protection under federal law but "other priorities" prevent the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service from adding it to the list of threatened and endangered species at this time.

Increased federal protection for the bird could mean stricter controls on energy development, grazing and other activities that might push the bird closer to extinction.

Friday's decision means the government will pay closer attention to and better fund conservation efforts to preserve the sage grouse and its habitat, but it is likely welcome news from wind developers and others whose interests could run counter to the bird's.

"We need to find smart ways to protect habitat, but also allowing for much needed development of energy resources,” Salazar said Friday.

Conservationists, some of whom allege the government allows species to languish on the waiting list the grouse joined today, hope the decision will start to reverse the bird's long-term decline.

"Now that the federal government acknowledges the decline of sage-grouse, we need to ensure that its land-management agencies reconcile their energy-development practices with the latest wildlife science. And we need strategies to cope with the impacts of drought, fires and invasive species brought on by climate change," said Ben Deeble, a biologist with the National Wildlife Federation.

The government estimates that over half of the bird's original habitat has been lost to development, grazing, fire and weeds.

Surveys last year found sage grouse numbers in Oregon were down to about 22,000 from 40,000 in 2003, but sage grouse populations regularly fluctuate to such a degree, said Christian Hagen, grouse specialist for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Range-wide, the number of grouse has decreased about 3.5 percent a year between 1965 and 2003, according to a recent survey by the U.S. Geological Service.

A federal court reversed an earlier decision by the Bush administration that the species did not deserve protection. That led to the most recent review of the sage grouse's status. The public now has 90 days to make formal comments on Friday's announcement.

More: http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2010/03/sage_grouse_endangered_species_1.html

Well, at least the Obama administration isn't blatantly censoring or falsifying the science....

[pscot]

1. It will be a lot easier to protect them

when they're gone. There won't be so many to worry about.

[pscot]

2. Jeebus, who would unrec

a thread like this? And why?