In this episode of Local Motion, KVNF's weekly public affairs program, we originally intended to produce a program about seasonal closures on Bureau of Land Management lands on the Western Slope. We talked with two wildlife biologists about the closures.
One closure in particular caught our attention: A closure near the town of Crawford that's aimed to protect the endangered Gunnison Sage-Grouse.
For this episode, we spoke with Gwen Harris and Emily Latta of the BLM Uncompahgre Field Office; Jess Young, former wildlife biologist who is credited with identifying the sage grouse as a unique species; and Jill Hepp of Conservation International.
The latest science shows that up to 1 million species are at risk of extinction by 2030 if the current drivers of lost biodiversity aren't addressed. This crisis is at play all over the world as our human needs interact and conflict with nature.
The Uncompahgre Field Office of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) regularly takes actions to protect nature on the western slope while balancing their mission of "multiple-use and sustained yield."
Interview excerpts
Jess Young, former wildlife biologist, on how she became involved with the Gunnison Sage-Grouse
I first met the Gunnison Sage-Grouse long before they were called Gunnison Sage-Grouse. As an undergraduate in 1988, I had worked for a few years on Sage Grouse in the California area, up in the Sierra Nevadas, and I was helping my professors analyze sounds of the sage grouse and looking at how that might influence mating success of metals. When my professor walked in one day, Jack Bradbury tossed me a cassette tape and said there's this guy by the name of Jerry Hough and Clayton Braun is professor in Gunnison that think that the sage grouse there might sound different. I put that tape into a machine that analyzes sounds, and it didn't even look like a grouse sound at that point.
I asked my professor if I could borrow his equipment. And my dad built me a rotating blind. And my mom and I drove in a van to Gunnison and we did the first videotaping of the birds. That eventually led to my PhD thesis at Purdue, where we looked at genetic, physical, and behavioral differences between the sage grouse found in eight populations.
Gwen Harris, BLM Uncompahgre Field Office, on the protected Sage-Grouse habitat near Crawford
Developing a resource management plan is a long process. We like to highlight and emphasize how much participation there is in the process. So we engage with other state and federal agencies, with county governments and with the public as well any other stakeholders, universities, organizations that hold a vested interest in how we're managing these lands.
The Gunnison Sage Grouse area of Critical Environmental Concern or ACEC, is near Crawford. It's kind of north and a little bit east of the National Park land up there. This area has already been designated and has specific protections in place and there is a new RMPA or RMP amendment out for the Gunnison Sage-Grouse specifically that is adding another layer of protection and management decisions in that area.
This amendment covers the entirety of the Gunnison Sage-Grouse range, which is throughout Colorado and Utah. It's about 10 counties in Colorado and two counties in Utah. So this speaks to management throughout all eight of those populations. Of course, the main population of Gunnison Sage-Grouse, its stronghold, is in the Gunnison area. Then there's 7 satellite populations, and Crawford is lucky enough to be home to one of those satellite populations.
The ACEC out in Crawford has been closed to motorized and mechanized vehicles and bicycles from December 1st through May 15th. That's already been in place in order to protect big game wintering areas. And then it's also been closed to camping from December 1st through July 15th also for the big game. But for Gunnison Sage-Grouse breeding and nesting periods, we're adding on an additional all uses closure from March 15th through May 15th.
Emily Latta, BLM Uncompahgre Field Office, on Sage-Grouse populations and management plans
The population is estimated at 4,300 birds and 85% of those are actually in the Gunnison Basin. So that makes these satellite populations, Gwen mentioned, seven satellite populations from the core population in the Gunnison Basin really important. That genetic diversity component is exceptionally important when we have a species that's exhibiting a downward trend in population.
Species like grouse do have cyclical trends, but you know, this across across its history has just it's it's a precipitous downward trend in the population. That lecking time that Gwen mentioned is exceptionally important. That's when birds are really sensitive to disturbance from humans or just disturbance in general. We don't even have to blame humans for this. They're just really focused on breeding.
A lek is like a congregation area that they come to to display and they do this like goofy kind of booming dance and they have these air sacs that they fill. So the male birds are engaging in this dancing and singing essentially. And then females come to lek and that's where they have breeding opportunities. So anytime that they could be potentially disturbed while engaging in this could be a loss to breeding opportunities and could have impacts to the population.
I mentioned 4,300 birds population wide. Our population in Crawford is estimated to be only about 44 individuals.
Resource management plans really are blueprints for the BLM to manage lands. Another way I like to think about it is that it's making decisions on resources and lands in one document. Every time a proposal comes up, you already have a set of sideboards to work on. You're not reinventing the wheel.
