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Populations of the sage-grouse, an iconic Western bird, have plummeted 80% since 1965, with half of that decline coming in the last two decades. That's the finding of a new report by U.S. Geological Survey scientists, who described it as "the most comprehensive, most quantitative summarization of sage-grouse population trends that’s ever been done."
The report examines a range of threats facing the bird, including energy development, wildfires, and invasive species, estimating that as many as 45% of the sage-grouse's breeding locations, called leks, could disappear within the next 20 years. Notably, the report lays the groundwork for a proactive system to monitor sage-grouse populations and alert federal and state land managers of critical population declines, allowing time to enact stricter protections.
At the federal level, the Biden administration is expected to reverse actions taken by the Trump administration to weaken landmark sage-grouse conservation plans by allowing more drilling, mining, and development within critical habitat. The Trump rollbacks, enacted by former oil lobbyist Interior Secretary Bernhardt, have faced a string of legal defeats, opening the door for new revisions. Just last month a federal judge in Idaho overturned a decision to allow mining and development across 10 million acres of sage-grouse habitat in the West.
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They don’t tell us, you know, ‘There’s a big oil boom right here and you’re sitting on some riches so you better be sure you have your own lawyers at the negotiating table.'”
