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Colorado's Greater Sage Grouse Plan Needs Political Will

Test of State's Proposed Conservation Plan will be in its Implementation

Colorado's Division of Wildlife has released the state's plan to preserve the greater sage-grouse, an ambitious program which will be successful only if the state can implement it fully and garner the cooperation necessary to do so.

Denver, CO Tuesday, March 18, 2008 Yesterday the Colorado Division of Wildlife released the Colorado Greater Sage-Grouse Conservation Plan (also known as the “CCP”), which is designed to guide efforts within the state to conserve the greater sage-grouse, a highly imperiled native of sagebrush habitats in several western states. The plan proposes several ambitious and potentially effective strategies for keeping the sage-grouse from further declining by conserving its remaining habitat and protecting it from disturbance during critical periods, such as its breeding season. However, the plan is heavily dependent on participation from partners ranging from Colorado counties to federal land management agencies, and therefore its effectiveness is still in question.

“Colorado’s plan to save the sage-grouse is a solid roadmap, but is the state going to do enough to get everyone to follow it?” asked Josh Pollock, Conservation Director at Center for Native Ecosystems. “The real test of this plan will be how committed the state remains to implementing these strategies and how much cooperation they can leverage from agencies like the Bureau of Land Management.”

The Colorado Conservation Plan is based on the latest scientific studies that found sharp sage-grouse population declines in areas of heavy oil and gas drilling activity. The plan recommends total avoidance of drilling and other disturbance in sage-grouse breeding grounds but is less stringent on activities in the surrounding nesting habitat, which runs counter to the conservation recommendations of several prominent biologists and sage-grouse experts.

“Sage-grouse do more than just mate. All the science shows that sage-grouse need protection throughout their habitat,” said Erin Robertson, Senior Staff Biologist at Center for Native Ecosystems.

The Colorado Conservation Plan analyzed some of the current measures used to protect sage-grouse and found them lacking. In particular, the plan notes that the standard measures taken by the Bureau of Land Management, which controls large areas of sage-grouse habitat in Colorado, are inadequate and not supported by any scientific data.

“The Bureau of Land Management is a key to successfully keeping the sage-grouse from needing Endangered Species Act protections,” said Pollock. “So far, the agency’s track record is weak. Just a few months ago, it tried to offer oil and gas leases in some of the very places that the Colorado Division of Wildlife identified as the most important for sage-grouse survival.”

Colorado’s plan now joins a host of other state-level and private sector efforts intended to keep the greater sage-grouse from needing Endangered Species Act protections. In Wyoming, Democratic governor Dave Fruedenthal has convened a working group to develop and implement mitigations. The recent surge of such local and regional efforts is spurred in part by a February finding by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that earlier petitions to protect the greater sage-grouse under the Endangered Species Act warranted a full consideration of protections for the species. This finding corrected a 2004 denial of protections that was inappropriately forced through the agency by a former Interior Department political appointee, Julie MacDonald, who tampered with numerous decisions regarding protection of endangered species. The Fish and Wildlife Service is currently accepting public comments for their new sage-grouse determination.

“Time is running out for the states and others to prove they can protect the sage-grouse without the Endangered Species Act,” said Pollock. “With the oil and gas drilling boom already here at our doorstep, we must get sage-grouse protection right within the coming months, not years.”

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