Livestock grazing harm to the imperiled bird ignored- The U. S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) just released the final environmental reviews for proposed land use plans. These, it says, “will help conserve greater sage-grouse habitat and support sustainable economic development on portions of public lands in 10 states across the…
Was it political expediency? News release RENO, Nev. – The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today abandoned its plan to give Endangered Species Act protection to Mono Basin sage grouse, a small and isolated population of prairie birds in Nevada and California that remain under threat from grazing, habitat loss and mining development. The agency’s decision…
Renewal of 15 sheep grazing permits on Big Desert grazing allotment challenged- News Release Boise, ID—Today, Western Watersheds Project filed a lawsuit challenging the Department of Interior’s approval of fifteen sheep grazing permits for the Big Desert Sheep allotment located partly within Idaho’s Craters of the Moon National Monument. In addition to renewing the grazing…
WASHINGTON — The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) soon to be considered by the U.S. House of Representatives contains several provisions that would undermine current efforts to protect greater sage grouse on nearly 60 million acres of public lands, and would lead to listing greater sage grouse under the Endangered Species Act. The livestock lobby…
Down to 7 Percent of Historic Range and Declining, Grouse Needs Stronger Federal Protection WASHINGTON— Conservation groups today filed a formal notice of intent to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over its decision to designate the Gunnison sage grouse as a “threatened” rather than “endangered” species under the Endangered Species Act. The agency’s…
WASHINGTON— Bowing to political pressure, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today designated the Gunnison sage grouse as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act instead of the more protective “endangered” status proposed in January 2013. Downgrading the grouse to “threatened” will let the agency propose a special pro-industry rule to continue allowing activities threatening the…
Dr. Clait Braun is indisputably one of the preeminent sage grouse experts in the nation. He has studied sage grouse throughout their range and has published many peer reviewed scientific articles about the species over his long career. Recently Dr. Braun wrote a letter to the Casper Star Tribune in response to a letter by…
The Greater Sage Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) is the largest grouse in North America. The grouse is found in sagebrush steppe from Alberta to New Mexico and throughout the Great Basin region of Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Colorado and Wyoming. The sage grouse is extirpated from much of its former range and is no longer found…
Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University. He was a Western Watersheds Project Board Member off and on for many years, and was also its President for several years. For a long time he produced Ralph Maughan’s Wolf Report. He was a founder of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. He and Jackie Johnson Maughan wrote three editions of “Hiking Idaho.” He also wrote “Beyond the Tetons” and “Backpacking Wyoming’s Teton and Washakie Wilderness.” He created and is the administrator of The Wildlife News.