Ranchers’ Sage Grouse Conservation Stories Published: Private Lands Pivotal in Debate Surrounding Endangered Species Listings

MADISON, Wis. – (June 8, 2015) With controversy growing around potential federal protection of the Greater sage grouse, Sand County Foundation has published a collection of stories that demonstrate how ranchers in the West are working collaboratively to enhance critical sagebrush habitat where the increasingly rare bird lives. 

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is under court order to make its decision by September on whether the Greater sage grouse should be protected under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

A decision to list the showy, chicken-sized bird could take a significant economic toll on states across the West.

With populations spanning 11 energy-rich and agriculture-intensive states, the sage grouse is an icon of the West. By some estimates its population has been reduced from millions to perhaps 500,000 today. Sage grouse are predictors of good land health and of the presence of other native species across the West. Pronghorn, mule deer and hundreds of other plants and animals thrive in sagebrush habitat.

With a potential listing in the offing, determined ranchers have been working successfully in partnership with government and non-government conservation organizations through the innovative Sage Grouse Initiative (SGI) to restore over 4 million acres of habitat. The initiative, led by the Natural Resources Conservation Service, has already invested nearly $450 million in on-the-ground conservation since 2010 and expects to have invested more than $700 million by 2018 to protect, restore and manage sage grouse habitat.

On May 28, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and Wyoming Governor Matt Mead announced the release of 98 Federal Land Resource Management Plan Revisions focused on addressing sage grouse habitat on public lands. The plans seek to limit habitat disturbance and reduce fire risks in BLM and U.S. Forest Service sagebrush habitat areas.

Sand County Foundation’s publication “Stories from the Range: Ranching and Sage Grouse Conservation,” details the efforts of six ranching families who have actively and voluntarily engaged in successful habitat conservation on private lands across the range in Oregon, Utah, Nevada, California, Wyoming, Idaho.

“They’re a species I’ve lived with all my life, hunted all my life, and they add color to my life,” said Andy Taft, owner of Taft Ranch in Parker Mountain, Utah. “I want to see them, I want to co-exist with them. There’s no question about that.”

Given the opportunity to act voluntarily, private property owners and private enterprise have the flexibility and expertise to try new ideas and drive innovation. The lessons that emerge from these families, and hundreds of other private landowners working in concert with federal agencies, businesses, states and local governments, can serve as a guide to the next generation of more effective species conservation in the U.S.

Download a PDF of the publication at sandcounty.net/publications

Sand County Foundation is a non-profit conservation organization dedicated to working with private landowners to advance the use of ethical and scientifically sound land management practices that benefit the environment. www.sandcounty.net

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