New Baseline Environmental Report on the Greater Sage-Grouse Released

[Chris Merkord]

Male greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus). (Credit: FWS)

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has released a new baseline environmental report on the greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) titled “Summary of Science, Activities, Programs, and Policies that Influence the Rangewide Conservation of Greater Sage-Grouse.” The report is meant to supplement the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) national technical team report, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) conservation objectives team report to help guide the BLM and U.S. Forest Service in their efforts to conserve the greater sage-grouse.
The USGS report provides a rangewide perspective of the current scientific understanding of the threats to greater sage-grouse populations and habitats, as identified in the FWS’s “warranted but precluded” finding. The report is based on decades of compiled research from the BLM, USGS, and many other sources. The USGS does not provide management options in this report, as those were included in the BLM report.
 
Sources: Environment & Energy News PM (June 3, 2013), USGS Newsroom (June 3, 2013).
Related TWS articles: BLM Failed to Analyze Grazing Impacts to Sage-Grouse, Judge Rules (March 2012), BLM to Increase Sage-Grouse Protections (September 2011), Gateway West Transmission Line Project a Potential Threat to Sage-Grouse (October 2011), WY Governor Maintains Core Sage-Grouse Habitat (July 2011), BLM Expands Sage Grouse Protections in Wyoming (December 2008).


View the full article from The Wildlife Society's Wildlife Policy News