A Greater Sage Grouse. Photo by Terry Steele.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has scheduled a news conference for 10:30am Pacific time Friday, when he’s expected to make an announcement about the status of the greater sage grouse.
This is one of the most highly anticipated environmental decisions ever for Western states.
The greater sage grouse has been in seriously decline for decades. In Oregon, the numbers are off 50% from 2005 to 2008. In Washington, they’re almost entirely gone.
What makes the decision so important is the impact it could have on a broad range of activities. Ranching, farming, logging, development for new homes and destination resorts, even wind and solar projects could be affected. The birds need a lot of area to nest and forage and their behavior can be easily disrupted.
Salazar has three choices. He can decide the sage grouse doesn’t deserve endangered species listing, or that it does. His third choice allows him to split the difference. He can say that listing is “warranted, but precluded”, meaning that it’s a good idea but for various reasons he’s not going to list it. Instead, the status of the sage grouse will be reviewed on an annual basis.
Why would Salazar pick option #3? Because it fires a warning shot to federal agencies, state and local governments, and anyone else involved in developing sage brush country. If they don’t consider how developments will affect sage grouse, and if they don’t mitigate for impacts, then Salazar may have no choice to but to list the bird.
For some good background see these stories:
Sightline: Will Sage-Grouse Get Listed?
Rocky Barker: Sage grouse is not the spotted owl of the sagebrush sea.
