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RYEGATE, Mont. — When permanent settlement began in the West some 16 million greater sage grouse lived on the steppes of the high plains. Enlarge This Image
Gary Kramer/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, via Associated Press
DECLINE There may now be as few as 200,000 sage grouse in the West.
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There may now be as few as 200,000 of these ground-dwelling birds, famous for their elaborate courtship dance, and they are on the decline, hit especially hard by oil and gas development. Their dwindling numbers warrant protection as an endangered species, federal officials say. Because other species need listing first, though, and because protections for endangered species are widely reviled in the West, a unique way of managing the birds is under way.
The Sage Grouse Initiative, a project administered by the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service, targets for protection three-quarters of the birds on about a quarter of total sage grouse habitat. Officials call it a triage approach to conservation — protecting land where habitat is mostly intact and ignoring much of the land that has been degraded by energy development and other things.
“We’re targeting like a laser beam those places where there are a lot of birds,” said David E. Naugle, an associate professor of wildlife at the University of Montana and scientific adviser to the project.
The effort is also unique because it covers so much land — some 56 million acres across 11 Western states. Nothing near this scale has been done with a species in trouble. The project received $18 million last year and $30 million this year from the conservation service. Last week, the conservation service announced the addition of $23 million to buy conservation easements on core habitat.
“The federal government really stepped up in a meaningful way to keep sage grouse off the endangered species list,” said Tom Remington, director of the Colorado Division of Wildlife, which is not involved in the effort. “It’s mind-boggling that they did it so fast and it’s as well funded as it is. And applying science in this way is unprecedented.”
Noah Greenwald, a biologist with the Center For Biological Diversity, which focuses on endangered species, thinks the plan is good, but doesn’t go far enough. The sage grouse initiative “is voluntary,” Mr. Greenwald said. “We hope the promises are kept, but things can fall through the cracks.”
Neither, he said, does the plan protect sage grouse habitat on federal land damaged by energy development, and plans to protect the birds in those areas are not nearly as strong as an endangered designation would be. The group has sued to force listing of the bird so it receives full protection under the law.
The effort began with the locations of the biggest, healthiest populations. In each state leks have been well tallied — a lek is like a sage grouse town square, a critical area where the birds carry out courtship rituals and mate. Counting birds on the lek in the spring gave biologists a solid estimate of numbers.
The spring breeding rite of the sage grouse is one of the bird world’s most dramatic courtships. For a month or so dozens of males, which are the largest grouse in North America and can weigh up to seven pounds, show up at the grassy lek and jockey for territory with displays — puffing up a huge collar of white chest feathers, fanning their tail feathers and making popping sounds by slapping together two small yellow air bladders on their chests. The birds clash and feathers fly, all in an effort to prove superiority and claim a few more square feet of ground than other birds.
By April the females fly in, and some researchers joke that it’s the wildlife equivalent of the bars during spring break in Florida. “It’s chaos,” said Dr. Naugle. As the air is filled with the popping of air bladders, “everyone starts displaying and strutting and trying to woo the females.” The top male may mate with three-quarters of the females.
Within the 56 million acres, the conservation service is concentrating on ranch land with the highest numbers of birds and best habitat, called core areas, and working to improve it. It’s a last, large-scale effort to stem the bird’s decline, and should it fail the bird will probably receive strict protection across its range.
Gary Kramer/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, via Associated Press
DECLINE There may now be as few as 200,000 sage grouse in the West.
RSS Feed
Get Science News From The New York Times » There may now be as few as 200,000 of these ground-dwelling birds, famous for their elaborate courtship dance, and they are on the decline, hit especially hard by oil and gas development. Their dwindling numbers warrant protection as an endangered species, federal officials say. Because other species need listing first, though, and because protections for endangered species are widely reviled in the West, a unique way of managing the birds is under way.
The Sage Grouse Initiative, a project administered by the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service, targets for protection three-quarters of the birds on about a quarter of total sage grouse habitat. Officials call it a triage approach to conservation — protecting land where habitat is mostly intact and ignoring much of the land that has been degraded by energy development and other things.
“We’re targeting like a laser beam those places where there are a lot of birds,” said David E. Naugle, an associate professor of wildlife at the University of Montana and scientific adviser to the project.
The effort is also unique because it covers so much land — some 56 million acres across 11 Western states. Nothing near this scale has been done with a species in trouble. The project received $18 million last year and $30 million this year from the conservation service. Last week, the conservation service announced the addition of $23 million to buy conservation easements on core habitat.
“The federal government really stepped up in a meaningful way to keep sage grouse off the endangered species list,” said Tom Remington, director of the Colorado Division of Wildlife, which is not involved in the effort. “It’s mind-boggling that they did it so fast and it’s as well funded as it is. And applying science in this way is unprecedented.”
Noah Greenwald, a biologist with the Center For Biological Diversity, which focuses on endangered species, thinks the plan is good, but doesn’t go far enough. The sage grouse initiative “is voluntary,” Mr. Greenwald said. “We hope the promises are kept, but things can fall through the cracks.”
Neither, he said, does the plan protect sage grouse habitat on federal land damaged by energy development, and plans to protect the birds in those areas are not nearly as strong as an endangered designation would be. The group has sued to force listing of the bird so it receives full protection under the law.
The effort began with the locations of the biggest, healthiest populations. In each state leks have been well tallied — a lek is like a sage grouse town square, a critical area where the birds carry out courtship rituals and mate. Counting birds on the lek in the spring gave biologists a solid estimate of numbers.
The spring breeding rite of the sage grouse is one of the bird world’s most dramatic courtships. For a month or so dozens of males, which are the largest grouse in North America and can weigh up to seven pounds, show up at the grassy lek and jockey for territory with displays — puffing up a huge collar of white chest feathers, fanning their tail feathers and making popping sounds by slapping together two small yellow air bladders on their chests. The birds clash and feathers fly, all in an effort to prove superiority and claim a few more square feet of ground than other birds.
By April the females fly in, and some researchers joke that it’s the wildlife equivalent of the bars during spring break in Florida. “It’s chaos,” said Dr. Naugle. As the air is filled with the popping of air bladders, “everyone starts displaying and strutting and trying to woo the females.” The top male may mate with three-quarters of the females.
Within the 56 million acres, the conservation service is concentrating on ranch land with the highest numbers of birds and best habitat, called core areas, and working to improve it. It’s a last, large-scale effort to stem the bird’s decline, and should it fail the bird will probably receive strict protection across its range.
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