sage grouse

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."

Mike Garrity writes, "No matter what election-year fiction Stone-Manning spreads about the great success of the collaborators' plan, the reality is that sage grouse are staring extinction in the face."

Gas drilling can go ahead in the Wyoming land where sage-grouse live and migrating pronghorns pass through, a Tenth Circuit panel ruled.