sage grouse

Conservationists and federal land managers clashed in court over a plan shrinking protected research areas.

The court found there wasn't enough data on sage grouse populations in the Grasshopper Watershed to support an injunction but said the feds likely violated an environmental law.

A new policy adopted by the Bureau of Land Management would open up 71 million acres of land to oil and gas drilling, as well as mining.

The Trump administration on Monday released final land-use plans concerning imperiled sage grouse habitat across eight western states to criticism from conservationists.

A Montana federal judge wasn't convinced the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" applied retroactively to leasing decisions.

Michael Garrity writes, "Greater sage grouse occupied more than 460,000 square miles across 13 Western states, including Montana, and three Canadian provinces before European settlement in the 1800s."

The Bureau of Land Management didn't explain how slashing protected research areas from 22,000 acres to just 3,700 still accomplished its research goals, an Oregon judge said.

In a long-running fight over public lands, a conservation group accuses the Bureau of Land Management of deprioritizing the research on the imperiled sage grouse.

Though the appellate court found the government did violate federal land laws in granting the leases, they also said canceling the leases would cause a $125 million disruption that outweighs the error.

Tom Puchlerz writes, "The fragmentation of our sagebrush ecosystem is not only hurting sage grouse, but other wildlife and ecological communities that depend on it."