Zinke orders review of sage grouse conservation plans

[Cara J]

On Jun. 8, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke signed Secretarial Order 3353 (Greater Sage-Grouse Conservation and Cooperation with Western States). With the Order, the U.S. Department of the Interior will establish a Sage-Grouse Review Team to work on improving sage-grouse conservation efforts and enhancing collaboration between state and federal conservation plans and programs. State and federal agencies have both contributed to sage-grouse conservation efforts for several years. In 2010, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service determined the greater sage-grouse to be warranted but precluded for listing under the Endangered Species Act because of higher priority listing actions. A deadline of Sept. 30, 2015 was set for USFWS to propose listing or remove the sage-grouse from the Candidate List. In 2011, the State-Federal Sage-Grouse Task Force was established with representatives from the 11 western states containing sage-grouse, the USFWS, Bureau of Land Management, Natural Resources Conservation Service, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Geological Society, and Interior. This Task Force, works to “identify and implement high priority conservation actions and integrate ongoing actions necessary to preclude the need for the sage-grouse to be listed under the ESA.” In Oct. 2015, USFWS found that the greater sage-grouse did not warrant listing under the ESA following [...]

 

Read more: http://wildlife.org/zinke-orders-review-of-sage-grouse-conservation-plans/