The U.S. Interior Department Says the Sage Grouse Is Not on the Endangered Species List

According to a recap  by the REALTORS® Land Institute (RLI) in today’s Washington Update:

On March 5^th, the federal Department of Interior recognized the greater sage grouse – a bird whose protection would conflict with Western energy and land development – as a species needing federal protection under the Endangered Species Act, but delayed its addition to the endangered species list to devote attention to other higher-priority species.Interior Department Secretary Ken Salazar found the sage grouse’s inclusion on the endangered list “warranted but precluded”, and decided that the prairie bird should be added to the ESA “candidate” list. The bird would join 249 other species on that list, some of which have been there for more than 25 years. The candidate list — reserved for species that merit listing but are outranked by other, higher priorities — offers no legal protection for affected species.

Environmentalists, Western politicians and energy and land developers have feuded for nearly a decade over potential listing of the chicken-sized bird, whose sagebrush habitat also intersects with prime areas for energy, land and agricultural development across 11 Western states.

Sage grouse live in California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, North and South Dakota, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. More than half of North America’s sage grouse are believed to be in Wyoming.  Western legislators and industry groups argued that an endangered or threatened listing would complicate oil and gas drilling, wind energy, land development, grazing, mining and other energy development.

Placing the bird on the “candidate” list means that the Fish and Wildlife Service will continue to monitor the health of the species, but no legal protections will be taken and no habitat will be set aside.  The candidate listing has no legal weight, but leaves conservation measures up to the discretion of the federal government.  A “threatened” or “endangered” listing under ESA would make it illegal to harm or kill sage grouse without a special permit from the Fish and Wildlife Service. It would require federal agencies to consult with wildlife biologists on the potential effects to the grouse before issuing any permits for activities in its habitat — like oil and gas drilling or wind turbines.