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Both Sides Sue Over Gunnison Sage Grouse

Gunnison Sage Grouse
Flick/shellgame

Last November, the federal government listed the Gunnison sage grouse as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.  That doesn’t mean, though, that the fighting over this contentious bird is done.

Governor John Hickenlooper thinks the listing goes too far, given the community action to protect the bird.  He vowed that if the bird was listed, the state of Colorado would sue.  They’ve given warning of their intent to sue.  That lawsuit should be coming late next month.  Meanwhile, Wild Earth Guardians has just announced they will sue, because the threatened listing doesn’t go far enough. 

The threatened species designation is indeed a compromise, and it does compromise the protections for the species,” says Erik Molvar, a biologist with Wild Earth Guardians. 

“It allows the Fish and Wildlife Service to set up free passes for various folk who are doing business in or managing Gunnison sage habitats and potentially allows the habitat to continue to be fragmented, degraded, and destroyed.  There are less than 5,000 birds estimated to remain in the wild today, and it has disappeared in over 93 percent of its original, historic range,” he says. 

Some people, like Clait Braun have watched the decline.  He used to be in charge of sage grouse research from 1973 to 1999.  He’s retired now, but still involved.  He’s one of the principles on the lawsuit against the Forest Service. 

“Endangered species protection is a lot more rigorous in terms of requirements than a threatened designation,” says Braun, “threatened really doesn’t mean much.  All it means is we’re going to watch and see what happens.

“Endangered listing means that we’re actually going to do something, and we’re going to start with a recovery plan.  That’s what I’m really looking for: a recovery plan.  I want to see a plan that has meat in it, and not just promises,” he says.

Braun says the grassroots efforts haven’t shown that they’re doing any good, and that really, the bird should have been listed years ago.  The current lawsuits over the listing may go on for a long time. 

“It may take year to get through this litigation,” he says, “It may take years to get a recovery plan.  The question is, will we have any Gunnison sage grouse left?”

The one thing everyone can agree on, is they don’t want to see that happen.

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