Friday, May 29, 2015

Western sportsmen welcome federal sage-grouse plans

Sportsmen urge continued collaboration to save bird, habitat vital to other species

DENVER – Leading sportsmen and women across the West welcome the announcement of federal plans to conserve key greater sage-grouse habitat as an essential step in ensuring the bird and hundreds of other species remain a vital part of the Western landscape.

Sportsmen's and wildlife organizations in Western states said land-use plans unveiled Thursday by the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service are an integral part of efforts under way to save sage-grouse and the sagebrush steppe that also sustains mule deer, pronghorns, elk, raptors, songbirds and many other species. They stressed the need to continue the collaboration by private landowners, state, local and federal agencies and conservation groups to reverse the declines in sage-grouse numbers and loss of habitat across the West.

"Wyoming has been at the forefront of ensuring the greater sage-grouse remains an important part of the Western landscape and that other wildlife in the sagebrush steppe stay healthy. The wildlife and the economic activities the land sustains -- including hunting, grazing and recreation -- are fundamentally important to our communities, livelihoods and the reasons we live here," Joy Bannon, the Wyoming Wildlife Federation's field director and member of the Wyoming Sage Grouse Implementation Team. "Wyoming sportsmen and women are ready and willing to join with the state and federal agencies, landowners and others in this unprecedented region-wide effort to save both a species and a way of life."

If science-based conservation efforts are derailed, the hunting, recreation, grazing, and other economically vital activities occurring in sagebrush country might eventually have to be curtailed. Recreation on public lands in the 11 Western states where sage-grouse live contributes roughly $1 billion to the annual economy.

"Now is not the time to put on the brakes on sage-grouse habitat protection efforts, as some in Congress want to do. The BLM's land-use plans along with the work by states and cooperation from private landowners represent a one-of-a-kind, large-scale campaign to save a signature Western species and a landscape" said Lew Carpenter, an avid sportsman and regional representative for the National Wildlife Federation.

Some members of Congress have proposed delaying a listing decision by at least six years and requiring federal agencies to defer to state plans for managing sage grouse on federal land. However, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has continued developing conservation plans in conjunction with state and local partners and faces a court-ordered September deadline to render a listing decision on the bird.

A poll released last year by NWF found that nine out of 10 hunters in the West believe it's important to take action to protect sage-grouse habitat in their states.

Here's what sportsmen's and wildlife organizations in the West are saying about the sage-grouse plans:

"Although there is still a lot of hard work ahead of us to restore sage grouse populations, we commend the Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service for working with all stakeholders, private, state and federal, in coming up with a path forward. A listing under the Endangered Species Act is in no one's best interest, and we stand ready to help implement productive solutions for this struggling species."