Regional
(2010-02-23)
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DENVER, CO
(KUNC) -
The greater sage grouse have been disappearing from western lands for decades, but the rigorous debate over whether they should have federal protections didn't boil over until 2007.
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That's when environmentalists successfully sued the US Fish and Wildlife Service over the agency's decision not to list the birds as endangered. The court ordered the government to re-evaluate that decision; amid allegations that a Bush Administration political appointee had interfered with the science in the decision.
Now the current administration - and its Interior Secretary Ken Salazar - is pledging to make a listing decision based on science alone. And that's just fine with people like Wes McStay, who worries development is leading the small birds to extinction.
"Unfortunately there are a lot of individuals in this world that still view the West's land and its minerals is theirs to plunder at will," says McStay, who has ranched his entire life near the northwestern Colorado town of Craig.
McStay's ranch is in an area that surrounds one of the only places left in the state with a viable population of sage grouse.
"The sooner we act on this, the less severe the restrictions, or requirements will be," McStay says.
But it's safe to say that McStay's opinion is a minority amongst many western ranchers, some of whom are worried that an endangered species listing will lead to a lock down of public lands for cattle grazing.
Even some conservationists have lobbied against the listing too. They worry it could jeopardize fragile partnerships brokered over the years with private, conservation-minded landowners. Many of those efforts have happened in Wyoming. John Green, a spokesman for that state's democratic governor Dave Freudenthal, says a local-based conservation approach is best.
"As opposed to having something come down the pike from D.C. where we all find ourselves in a straight jacket regulatory regime," he says.
Wyoming officials worry an endangered species listing will all but block any kind of energy development in the state, especially as the state prepares for its next energy boom, wind power.
"I would hope that the conservation folks who look at this realize, that it's good for the sage grouse if it is not listed," Green says, "Because that means that all of the rest of us are voluntarily taking action to help mitigate the situation, and maybe turn them around."
But that argument many not hold up in the eyes of government scientists, who are charged with evaluating whether or not to list the sage grouse based on how they're fairing region-wide.
For instance, of the six viable populations left in Colorado, at last count, one near the western slope town of Meeker had only six males. That's according to Erin Robertson, a biologist at the Denver-based Center for Native Ecosystems, which supports listing the grouse.
"You know the stats are pretty shocking," says Robertson,"45 percent of the sage grouse's range in the Rocky Mountain states is already leased for oil and gas drilling, so it's ready to be drilled at any time."
Under the court order, the Fish and Wildlife Service must publish its decision in the federal register by Friday. But even if the agency decides to move ahead with a listing, at least a year or more of analysis and public comment will likely follow. © Copyright 2012, KUNC
