New sage grouse plans trigger legal threat from conservationists
Monique Merrill
(CN) — The Trump administration on Monday released final land-use plans concerning imperiled sage grouse habitat across eight western states to criticism from conservationists.
The Bureau of Land Management’s final plans impact around 50 million acres of federal land across Idaho, Montana, the Dakotas, Nevada, California, Utah and Wyoming.
The bureau bills the plans as ones that will both enhance conservation of the imperiled species and balance access for responsible energy and mineral development, but conservation groups disagree.
“Trump’s reckless actions will speed the extinction of greater sage grouse by allowing unfettered fossil fuel extraction and other destructive development across tens of millions of acres of public lands,” Randi Spivak, public lands policy director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement.
The conservationists say the new plans strip protections from 4.3 million acres of sage grouse habitat and eliminate a warning system designed to detect declines in local populations.
“Greater sage grouse are teetering on the brink of extinction, and their fate is inextricably linked to hundreds of other animals who rely on the sagebrush sea,” Spivak said. “Americans don’t want the doors of our public lands thrown open for more mining and fossil fuel extraction.”
The species declined nearly 80% between 1968 and 2022, according to a 2023 report from the U.S. Geological Survey. While determined to be eligible for federal protections under the Endangered Species Act due to the declining population, the species has not been listed. Instead, the federal government adopted a land management plan concerning sage grouse habitat in 2015.
The protections placed limits on where heavy industrial energy production could operate in certain habitat areas.
The bureau says the new plans support a Trump administration day one executive order, “Unleashing American Energy,” which called for prioritizing energy exploration and production on federal lands and directives from the Secretary of the Interior.
“We are strengthening American energy security while ensuring the sage-grouse continues to thrive,” Acting Bureau of Land Management Director Bill Groffy said in a statement. “Healthy sagebrush country powers our communities, sustains wildlife and supports the economies that make the West strong.”
The bureau asserts that the changes would continue to protect habitat across around 65 million acres of sagebrush lands, which sustain over 350 wildlife species, while making more acres available for development.
Conservationists say the plans remove important science-based standards for nesting habitat in Nevada, California and Idaho, as well as weaken habitat protections to allow the construction of the Greenlink North transmission line in Nevada.
The birds — which are known for a chunky body, spiky tail feathers and flamboyant mating dance — are iconic symbols of America’s rural rangeland. Sage grouse nest under sagebrush or in grasslands.
In a statement, Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon applauded the new plans.
Gordon said the state has consistently advocated for a plan that recognizes the state’s management authority over the species.
“Wyoming has been a leader in the sage-grouse conservation for six decades, and the State of Wyoming’s Executive Order Greater Sage-Grouse Core Area Protection strategy has spanned three governors in its foresight to have a state-led conservation strategy,” Gordon said. “We will continue to invest in sage-grouse conservation alongside responsible development in Wyoming.”
The sage grouse has become the basis for multipleongoinglegal battles between conservationists and the federal government, as well as resource extraction outfits, as the decline in the bird population is tied to the encroachment of development and industry onto its habitat.
The Center for Biological Diversity says it intends to sue the Trump administration over the new plans.
“Every president starting with Obama has screwed over these iconic Western birds and the hundreds of other wildlife species that depend on the beautiful sagebrush sea,” Spivak said. “We’re not letting these dancing birds go without a fight, so we’ll see Trump in court.”