State, feds focus on sage grouse

Idaho Statesman

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Stateandfederalofficialsarenearlydonewithplans for thegreatersagegrouse,which

hashabitatacross the11Westernstates that InteriorSecretarySally Jewellcalledher

agency’s toppriorityduringavisit inBoiseonTuesday.Officialshopetheirplanscan

staveoff listingof thebirdundertheEndangeredSpeciesAct,avoidingbroadrestrictions

onusesof11.5millionacresofsagebrushhabitat in theWest.Sinceshetookoffice in2013,

Jewell,whoappearedwithGov.ButchOtterataBoisenewsconference,above,hasmade

protectinggrousehabitat in thefaceofhottersummersandbigger firesahallmarkofher

tenure.But thechallengessheandotherofficials facearemanyandvaried,evenasCon-

gressconsidersnewlawsthatcouldrestrict federalofficials’ authority tousetheEndan-

geredSpeciesAct.StatesmanreporterRockyBarkersurveysthe landscape.DEPTH,D1

VIDEOOFJEWELL IDAHOSTATESMAN.COM

JEWELLRELEASESHERPLANFORFIGHTINGFIRESINGROUSEHABITATDEPTH,D5

ENDANGERED SPECIES

‘Our No. 1 naturalresource priority’

State and federal efforts are converging on savingthe sage grouse’s desert habitat from wildfires and other threats

DARIN OSWALD / [email protected]

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MayisNationalOlderAmer-icansMonth.Also, thisyear is the50thanniversaryof thepassageoftheOlderAmericansAct.This is

theperfect timetorenewourcommit-ment tomeetingolderresidents’needs.

Today,one in12Idahoseniors is livingwithhunger.

AARPestimates that63percentofour213,000residentswhoare65orolderrelyonSocialSecurity forhalfof their family income.Un-fortunately,morethanoneinthreeIdahoseniorsdependonSocialSecurity for theirentirehouseholdincome. It’snotsurprisingthenthatwhenyoufactor inout-of-pocketmedicalexpenses, 15per-centofourolderresidentsareliving inpoverty.WithAmericagettingolder—by2030nearlyoneinfiveU.Sresidentswillbe65orolder—weknowthepercentageofseniors inpovertywill increase,especially inruralcommunities.

Inresponsetothisdemograph-icshift,TheIdahoFoodbankisincreasing itseffort toservetheneedsofolderIdahoans.OurCookingMattersclasses,whileavailable toallages,helpseniorsonafixedincomeselectandpre-parefoodsthatwillensuretheyget thenutritiontheyneed.Specialclassesarealsoavailable forse-niorswithdietaryrequirementsimposedbyserioushealthcondi-tionssuchasdiabetes.

Sometimes, justgainingaccesstonutritious foodisachallenge.Lastyearwedistributedfoodformorethan13millionnutritiousmealsstatewide.Thisyear, thankstotheU.S.DepartmentofAgricul-ture,wewillbeprovidingaddi-tional foodsupport toseniors intheformofsupplementalcom-modities.Underthisprogram,eachmonthqualifyingseniorswillreceiveaboxcontainingavarietyof foodsessential forabalanceddiet.Theseboxeswillbedistrib-utedbyselectcommunitypart-ners fromourstatewidenetworkincludingsomeseniorcenters.

Werecognizethatensuringthewell-beingof Idahoseniorsre-quiresmuchmorethannutritiousfood.For thatreason,weareen-gagedincollaborativepartner-shipswithhealthcareorganiza-tions focusedondeliveringmuch-neededmedicalanddentalservic-es tounderservedpopulations—especially inrural Idaho.Offering“bundledservices”makesthebestuseof theavailableresources. Italsomeansthatdiabetesscreeningandeducation, forexample,canbepairedwitha“foodprescription”thatsupports thebesthealthout-comefor that individual.

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“She sawnobirds, nothing alive but squirrels, gray like

the earth, and somehawks far above circlingaroundand

around. In her dooryard, even where she imagined her

front step might be, were tall sagebrush and scraggly

bushes, full of dust and the forgotten nests of former

years.”

VardisFisher, “Toilersof theHills,” 1928

Idaho author Vardis Fisher’swork celebrated the achieve-ment of Mormon pioneers

who carved fields of grain out ofthe native sagebrush and moun-tain mahogany that covered theAntelope Hills overlooking theSouth Fork of the Snake River ineastern Idaho. He captured theeconomic, social and ecologicaltransformation of the huge sage-brush landscape that dominatedthe American West physicallyandspiritually.

Today, just half of the West’ssagebrush steppe remains, about165 million acres fragmented byfarms, ranches, towns, roads,power lines, rural subdivisions,mines, and oil and gas wells. Thelossofhabitathas leftgreater sagegrouse populations, one of thedozens of animals that depend on

the sagebrush habitat, so deplet-ed that theU.S. Fish andWildlifeService decided in 2010 that list-ingthebirdunderthefederalEn-dangered Species Act was “war-ranted, but precluded.” Theagency said it had animals thatwereathigherpriorityforlisting.

When conservation groupssued,ajudgeorderedin2010thatthe U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser-vice reconsider and decide bySept. 30 whether to keep the“warranted” status quo or de-clare the bird’s status as an En-dangeredSpeciesActcandidate“not warranted.” At stake is

ENDANGERED SPECIES

Feds, states near end ofmassive sage grouse planBy Sept. 30, the Fish and Wildlife Service will decide whether to end the threat of alisting that would limit energy development and grazing on habitat across 11 states

UNDERSTANDINGTHE FEDS’ PROCESS

Howbig is this conservation planning effort?Sage grouse habitat covers about 165million acres across the

IntermountainWest. Compare that to the habitat swept up in the1990s conservation effort for the spotted owl: 9.6million acres.What other species are dependent on the sagebrush ecosys-tem?

Sage grouse are a closelywatched gauge of the health of thedesert. But the pygmy rabbit, sage sparrow, ferruginous hawk,Brewer’s sparrow, sage thrasher and sagebrush vole are otherdependent species.Mule deer and golden eagles also live in sage-brush country.Will theU.S. Fish andWildlife Service list sage grouse as threat-ened or endangered species this year?

No.Congress specifically banned the agency fromspending anymoney on such a decision through Sept. 30 and it is expected tokeep that ban in place at least for another year.Sowhy is it doing anything?

U.S. District Judge B. LynnWinmill ordered it tomake a newdecision on sage grouse by Sept.30.Sowhat can the agency do?

It can keep the status quo,which is the determination that listingthe upper sage grouse is “warranted but precluded.”What does thatmean?

Thatmeans there is scientific evidence the bird is threatenedwith extinction but that other species, such asHawaiian song birdsthat have only a few individuals left, are a higher priority. Thatmakes sage grouse a candidate species, which requires federalagencies to consider their needswhenmaking decisions but doesnot include the tougher consultation rules thatwould be required ifthe birdswere listed as threatened or endangered.What other choices do the feds have?

The golden ticket that leaders of all 11 states and the federalagencies hope for is a “notwarranted” decision. Thatwouldmeanenough conservationmeasures are taking place to turn the bird’spopulation decline and into a growth trend. But Fish andWildlifeServiceDirectorDanAshe also could issue a “notwarranted” overmost of the range and leave portionswhere conservation programsare insufficient in the “warranted, but precluded” category.!

SEE A VIDEO ON JEWELL’S VISIT AND READ MOREABOUT THE GROUSE AND FIRE

MANAGEMENTIdahoStatesman.com


Interior Secretary Sally Jewell walks along a trail in the Boise Foothills on Tuesday, where she met with Gov. Butch Otter and discussed fire-fighting plans related to sage grouse.

BY ROCKY BARKER

[email protected]© 2015 Idaho Statesman

JEWELL UNVEILS WILDFIREPLAN TO PROTECT GROUSEHABITAT D5

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whether to invoke or prevent thepowersoftheacttolimitenergyde-velopment, livestock grazing andother activities in thebird’s habitatacross 11 states.

For five years the great-grand-sons and great-daughters of thepioneerswhofirstplowedthroughthe sagebrush have worked on amassiveconservationeffort aimedat keeping the sage grouse off theendangeredspecies list.

“We’ve got the federal govern-ment and 11 states working on anecosystemthat’sbeenabusedorig-noredfor 100years,” saidPaulRut-ledgeof theNationalAudubonSo-ciety.

Once, asmanyas 16million sagegrouse made their home in thesamelandsas theroamingherdsofbuffalo, elk, mule deer and ante-lope. Today scientists fear thenumber has dropped to below200,000. A study just released byUniversity of Idaho scientist Ed-ward Garton shows that the num-ber of breeding males counted atgrouse-mating sites fell by 56 per-cent from 2007 to 2013, from109,990to48,641.

That prompted retired IdahoDepartmentofFishandGamesagegrousebiologist JackConnellyand10 other scientists to write a sternlettertofederalofficialsearlierthisyear about the sage grouse plansnowbeingdeveloped.

“We are issuing a warning thatthey need to pay attention to thescience and make sure their plansare biologically sound,” Connellysaid. “There’s an awful lot ofwish-ful thinkingout there.”

Still, Connelly and others haveworked with states, ranchers andothers to make the plans strongenough to turn around the bird’sslide. The conservation measuresincludepreventingenergydevelop-ment in the best grouse habitat,stoppingfire,reversingtheinvasionof cheatgrass and junipers intosagebrush, and halting the plowingofsagebrushfor farmingandsubdi-visions.Theyalsoincludenewstan-dardsfor livestockgrazing.

“There’s nothing that even re-sembles the size and scale of thesage grouse conservation effort,”saidTimGriffiths,nationalcoordi-nator of the SageGrouse Initiativefor theNatural ResourcesConser-vationService.

CONGRESSSTEPS IN

Fearful of the economic conse-quences that a listing could un-

leash, Congress weighed in lastyear,preventingfederalwildlifeof-ficialsfromspendinganymoneyinthis year’s budget to list the sagegrouse as threatened or endan-gered.Newproposals inCongresswould extend that congressionalbanforuptoto10years.

“Congressshouldlettheprocesswork,” Interior Secretary SallyJewellsaid inaninterviewwiththeIdahoStatesmanonTuesday.

So federal officials can’t list. Butbecause the Fish andWildlife Ser-vicemust act beforeOct. 1 tomeetthe deadline set by U.S. DistrictCourt Judge B. Lynn Winmill ofBoise, ithas limitedoptions:

➤ It could keep the current“warranted”status.

➤ Itcoulddowngradethebird’sprotection across the range by de-ciding listing isnotwarranted.

➤ It could keep the current“warranted” status on a portion ofthe range, while saying listing is“notwarranted”onotherparts.

Thegoaloffederalandstatelead-ers is to develop an approach thatwill persuade listing officials thatplans in place will protect the birdand a listing is not needed. To dothat, they need enough conserva-tion measures in place or reasona-blycertaintobeinplacetosupportascientific judgmentnot to list.

To meet the “not warranted”goal, federal andstate leadershavedevelopeda largely three-pronged

conservationapproach: upgradingfederal management plans to in-clude stronger conservation mea-sures on public lands; upgradingstateplanstoconservesagegrouseon private and state lands; and de-veloping the fire plan unveiledTuesday by Jewell to address thegreatest threat to the bird in theGreatBasinofUtah,Nevada,IdahoandOregon

The Bureau of Land Manage-ment is expected to complete itsupdatedmanagementplanforbothits lands and national forest sage-brush habitat in Idaho andMonta-na by the end of this month. It al-readyhasshared itsdraft finalplanwithIdaho,whichisapartnerintheplanning process and whose planBLMhas recommended has a “co-preferredalternative.”

WORKINGTOGETHER

Western governors, includingIdahoGov. ButchOtter,were frus-trated in FebruarywhenBLMoffi-cials announced that their planwouldaddanother layerofprotec-tion at the request of the Fish andWildlife Service. The BLM identi-fied strongholds, or “focal areas,”where the“bestof thebest”habitatis to be withdrawn from possiblemineraldevelopmentandotherac-tivitiesmustbereviewed.

Thiswas seen by leaders acrossthe West as adding more restric-tions after they had agreed on the

setofconservationmeasures, suchas how to ensure that grouseground cover is protected fromovergrazing.

“I call it dirty pool,” said IdahoHouseSpeakerScottBedke.

But Otter said in a Boise newsconferencewithJewellonTuesdaythattheBLMplanisgoodforranch-ersandshouldmoveforward.

“The quicker we can arrive atconclusions,thequickerwecangetresults,” Otter said. “We’re closebutwe’renotquite there.”

DustinMiller,directorofOtter’sOffice of Species Conservation,said the BLM stuck with languageon grazing management that rec-ognizes that sagebrush habitat hasdifferentlevelsofpotentialtogrowgrassbackafterannualgrazingandthatgrouseuseareasdifferently. Inotherwords:Managerswon’tuseaone-size-fits-all standard for howmuch grass needs to be left aftercattlehavegrazed,Millersaid.

“Interior and BLM has seemedtotrytoworkwithus,”Millersaid.

Despite these assurances, IdahoCattleAssociation executive direc-torWyatt Prescott isn’t completelypersuaded. He and other industrygroupsacrosstheWestaresupport-ing legislation from Utah Republi-canRep. RobBishop thatwould al-low states to decidewhether a newpublic landmanagement plan goesintoeffectontheir land.

If Bishop’s bill passes and the

BLM plan satisfies ranchers andother industry groups, then thestate could “opt in” and allow theplan to be finalized. Critics say itgivestatespowerover federal landdecisions that would be unprece-dented.

Audubon’s Rutledge said suchpolitical interference in the man-agement-plan process would un-dercut the federal government’scase before Winmill or anotherjudge, if federalofficialsmakeade-cision that listing is “not warrant-ed.” Even worse, Rutledge said, itwoulderodethemomentumof thecollaborative conservation effortsnow in the works as federal, stateand private partners wait for an-other five years to make the hardchoices.

“By that time,wewillhaveham-mered the nail in the coffin of sagegrouseandopenedthedoorforlist-ing of a dozenother species in thatecosystem,”Rutledgesaid.

Last week attorneys for Advo-cates for theWest inBoiseandoth-er environmental groups involvedin the sage grouse lawsuits met inDenver todiscuss strategyasCon-gressconsidersactionsandfederalagencies complete their decisions.If the groups determine the plansdon’t meet scientific thresholds orthat Congress won’t fund updatesin conservation and grazing plans,the groupsmay askWinmill to or-der that more be done to protectsagegrouse.

Butifthestatesbeefuptheirownplansandthefederalagenciescom-plete their work by September,Rutledgehopesforasuccessstory.

Just as Fisher’s “Toilers of theHills” pioneers found ways tocarve farms and livelihoods fromthedesert,Rutledgehopestheneweffortrestorestheland’sresilience,helps fight drought and increasesfeed for cattle while stopping theslideof thesagegrouse.

“If we restore the carrying ca-pacity of this sagebrush landscapeforthegrouse, itwillsupportbene-fits foreveryone,”Rutledgesaid.

RockyBarker: 377-6484;

Twitter:@RockyBarker

SAGEGROUSE

CONTINUED FROM D1

ROCKYBARKER

Rocky is the author of“SavingAll theParts: Reconcil-ing Economicsand the En-dangered Spe-ciesAct.” Hewrites about

energy and environmentalissues for the Statesman.


U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell commends 14-year-old Ilah HIckman, right, on her efforts to makethe Idaho giant salamander the official state amphibian.

State, feds focus on sage grouse

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