On March 5, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) had decided that the greater sage-grouse was warranted for listing under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), but that the listing is precluded at this time due to higher priority listing actions, according to the Wildlife Management Institute. The decision establishes sage-grouse as a candidate species and allows states to continue to manage the species, including managed hunting where appropriate. However, the FWS will play a role in evaluating the success of conservation strategies through an annual review of the species' status to determine if the population warrants additional protection. In addition, the FWS and other federal partners have greater ability to provide technical and financial assistance for conservation of candidate species on private land.

"The sage-grouse's decline reflects the extent to which open land in the West has been developed in the last century," Secretary Salazar stated during the announcement. "This development has provided important benefits, but we must find common sense ways of protecting, restoring and reconnecting the western lands that are most important to the species' survival while responsibly developing much-needed energy resources. Voluntary conservation agreements, federal financial and technical assistance and other partnership incentives can play a key role in this effort."

During the announcement, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management also announced new guidance that will expand the use of science and mapping technologies to improve land-use planning to conserve sage-grouse habitat while ensuring that energy production, recreational access and other uses of federal lands continue as appropriate. The Interior Department pledged that energy development would be "smart from the start" to strategically avoid key habitat, and stated "there is plenty of room in the West for both conventional and renewable energy development as well as protecting sage-grouse."

The decision to list sage-grouse as a candidate species comes five years after the FWS determined that the species was not warranted for listing under the ESA. That decision was based on the science and expert opinion at the time that the bird was not facing extinction in the foreseeable future. It was immediately faced with litigation that ultimately required a complete review of the listing decision.

According to the FWS, the decision made this month was based largely on the accumulated scientific data provided by state and federal agencies and tribes, as well as data and information provided through commercial and public comments. The review of relevant materials included 25 chapters of new information and analyses contained in the peer-reviewed monograph entitled: Ecology and Conservation of Greater Sage-Grouse: A Landscape Species and Its Habitats, edited by the U.S Geological Survey for a forthcoming publication by the Cooper Ornithological Society in its Studies in Avian Biology Series. Thirty-eight scientists from federal, state and nongovernmental organizations collaborated to produce the analyses, synthesis and findings presented in this monograph.

The new information contains scientific analyses that integrated the species' ecology with existing land uses and documented that certain factors occurring on the landscape result in population declines and population extirpations. However, the FWS stated that the potential risk for extinction is low, assigning it a listing priority number of 8 (on a scale of 1 to 12, with 1 being most at risk for extinction), which indicated relatively lower priority when compared with most of the species on the candidate list. As a result, the needs of other species facing more immediate and severe threat of extinction will take priority for preparing listing proposals.

According to the group that initially sued the agency for listing, the FWS decision was not enough. The Western Watersheds Project filed suit in federal court on March 8, declaring that the government violated the Administrative Procedure Act and the ESA when it determined that other priorities outrank listing the sage-grouse. The complaint reads: "This ?precluded' determination relegates the sage grouse to the long list of ESA ?candidate' species?a black hole from which few species ever emerge, and under which they receive no ESA protection?and represents yet another non-scientific, politicized and arbitrary determination that prevents the sage-grouse from obtaining the ESA protection that it urgently needs."

The species' new status will allow for continued cooperation in implementing conservation efforts. Secretary Salazar and Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks, Tom Strickland, praised the efforts of western states and the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies for their efforts in recent years to protect the species. Salazar stated that, while the population had declined 80 to 90 percent from historic numbers, the population had been largely stable over the last decade due to these conservation efforts.

"We know more about what sage-grouse need to survive than we ever have before," stated Ralph Rogers, executive director of the North American Grouse Partnership. "This announcement does not herald the end of mineral exploration, grazing or hunting. It also doesn't mean that we can continue with 'business as usual.' That isn't working. It simply means that we must consider the well-defined needs of sage-grouse and other uniquely American species as we go about our business. The continued downward trend of America's old friend, the sage-grouse, is unacceptable. Vast areas of altered landscapes devoid of America's natural heritage are not a legacy we want to leave our children and grandchildren." (jas)