Sage Grouse Seen as Bar to Western Development

DENVER, Colorado, May 26, 2004 (ENS) - Organizations representing farm and ranching, coal, timber and wood products, small businesses, utilities, hard rock mining, oil and gas, construction, manufacturing, and property rights advocates are urging the governors of 11 states to oppose listing of the Greater sage grouse under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA).

They call the proposed listing "a federal takeover of state and local conservation programs aimed at preserving the Greater Sage Grouse."

In letters to individual governors, released Monday, more than 400 companies, associations, coalitions and individuals asked the governors to "do all that you can do to prevent the federal government from imposing the regulatory straightjacket of the Endangered Species Act on the citizens of the West and on our sage grouse populations."

The Greater Sage Grouse Conservation Task Force said that "an effort to list the greater sage grouse as a 'threatened' or 'endangered' species under the Endangered Species Act could "cause extraordinary economic damage to the West."

The governors of California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming received letters from the group.

Conservation organizations say the bird may soon be pushed to the brink of extinction. They have petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for protection for several populations of sage grouse, but have been unsuccessful to date.

Energy producers are concerned that protection for the sage grouse will stand in the way of coalbed methane gas drilling in states like Wyoming and Colorado.

"We are committed to supporting common sense conservation measures for your state's sage grouse populations," the Greater Sage Grouse Conservation Task Force wrote. "Many of us already have been engaged for several years with federal, state and local policymakers toward this goal. We believe, as you do, that state-led conservation partnerships that recognize local impacts are key to success in meeting legitimate threats to the survival of this or any species."

"The alternative to state leadership - sentencing the sage grouse to the prison of ESA - would be the worst possible outcome, both for the bird and for our citizens. In its 30-year history, the ESA law has had a 99 percent failure rate in restoring species to health. On the other hand, it has a high rate of success as a tool to confiscate private property, discourage private conservation efforts that actually conserve species and habitat, devastate rural communities, curb economic growth and destroy jobs."

A consortium called the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies is expected to issue a report this month assessing the status of the sage grouse population. The organization is composed of the fish and wildlife agencies from 23 states and Canadian provinces, from the Yukon south to Texas and west from Alaska to Hawaii.

The report will be reviewed by the Ecological Society of America, a nonprofit organization of scientists, and then go to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which will make its recommendation, possibly by the end of 2004.