Habitat

Eighteen states are challenging revamped critical habitat rules within the Endangered Species Act (ESA) that were finalized earlier this year by the Obama administration, claiming federal authorities are attempting to usurp control over state land and water resources by imposing unnecessary revisions.

Researchers from the University of Nevada, Reno published a paper on Wednesday that may rekindle concern about the ability to allow oil/natural gas development throughout the West and still protect Sage Grouse habitat.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) on Thursday issued instructions for conserving the greater sage grouse and its habitat in seven different land-use situations, oil and natural gas development being one.

Whether the omnibus bipartisan agreement between the Obama administration and many western state governors for protecting sage grouse habitat is effective and working seems split along partisan lines, based on testimony to a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee hearing Tuesday.

Efforts by western states and the energy industry to enhance habitat protections for the greater sage grouse should benefit from the recently unveiled U.S. Department of Interior (DOI) Natural Resource Investment Center, said Secretary Sally Jewell.

Following last month’s milestone decision to keep the beleaguered greater sage grouse off the endangered species listing, federal agencies in Utah have temporarily closed more than 233,000 acres of public and national forest lands for up to two years while they determine if the lands’ importance to the ground-based bird habitat is such that they should be made off limits for a longer period.

In the wake of the milestone decision by federal officials to not list the greater sage grouse as endangered or threatened, Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead late Tuesday said he intends to pursue a regional initiative to reform the Endangered Species Act (ESA) as incoming Western Governors’ Association (WGA) chairman.

In advance of a much-anticipated federal Interior Department announcement due Tuesday, governors in Oregon and Colorado last week issued executive orders to upgrade conservation efforts for the greater sage grouse.

Montana Gov. Steve Bullock has signed an agreement to work cooperatively with federal and state officials to preserve greater sage grouse habitat on working rangelands.