WASHINGTON— The Xerces Society and Center for Biological Diversity filed a notice of intent today to sue the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s secretive Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service for failing to properly consider harms to endangered species caused by insecticide spraying across millions of acres of western grasslands. APHIS oversees and funds the application […]
Tag: greater sage grouse
After hunters kill 874 sage grouse hens, Wyoming’s hunt questioned
Hunters killed at least 874 greater sage grouse hens in Wyoming last year, prompting a state grouse team member to question the wisdom of allowing a hunt of the imperiled species. The state’s Sage Grouse Implementation Team is meeting Wednesday to address Brian Rutledge’s concerns. Rutledge is director of the National Audubon Society’s Sagebrush Ecosystem […]
New Federal Report Shows 80-Percent Decline in Greater Sage-Grouse Populations
DENVER (March 30, 2021) – “This new science should ring alarm bells whether or not you have heard of sagebrush or the sage-grouse,” said Brian Rutledge, director of the National Audubon Society’s Sagebrush Ecosystem Initiative. “These birds are found across 11 Western states and are a reliable indicator of how other wildlife and the greater […]
No, ‘regenerative ranching’ is not good for grassland birds (commentary)
A staggering 3 billion birds, including 700 million grassland birds, have been lost in the last 50 years. Without question, one of the leading causes of those catastrophic losses has been habitat loss driven by grazing livestock. Yet, latching on to the success of regenerative plant agriculture, beef advocates have launched far-fetched “regenerative ranching” theories […]
Lawsuit Launched to Compel Trump Administration to Protect Sage Grouse
SAN FRANCISCO― Conservation groups filed a formal notice today of their intent to sue the Trump administration for failing to protect an imperiled bird, the bi-state sage grouse, under the Endangered Species Act despite ongoing population declines. The bi-state sage grouse is a geographically isolated, genetically distinct population of greater sage grouse, which are famous […]
Conservation Groups Sound Alarm on Administration’s Continued Assault on Western Values
DENVER – The American public, along with conservation and sporting organizations, submitted yet another round of comments today on six Draft Environmental Impact Statements (DEIS) prepared by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in an effort to overturn bipartisan science-based plans approved in 2015 to protect habitat of the imperiled Greater Sage-Grouse. As the primary […]
“Energy Dominance”: Three Years of a Disastrous Policy for Wildlife and Communities
March 2020 marked a somber anniversary. Three years ago, the Trump administration announced its so-called “energy dominance” doctrine, which, as the name implies has put energy development as the priority for our public lands. Since then, the administration has tried to lease a whopping 24.5 million acres of public land—land that is meant to be […]
POLL: Should the Trump Administration be allowed to weaken protections for sage grouse?
The Trump administration has unveiled plans to weaken environmental protections for sprawling areas of the western US considered important habitat for the sage grouse, a chicken-like bird known for its flamboyant courtship displays. The proposals, put forward by the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM), essentially dismantle much of a landmark 2015 compromise struck between […]