Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Thursday 23 November 2017

U.S. sage grouse policy heading back to square one

By SCOTT SONNER from Idaho House Speaker Boeger delivered in Sparks.
Associated Press Scott Bedke, a fifth-gener- "We all duked it out on
SPARKS, Nev. (AP) — Feder- ation rancher who blames these plans," said Boeger, a
al scientists and land man- grazing restrictions for a retired teacher and mem-
agers who've been craft- wildfire that wiped out his ber of the Nevada Chap-
ing strategies to protect family's winter grazing allot- ter of Backcountry Hunters
a ground-dwelling bird's ment this year. and Anglers who previously
habitat across the Ameri- "In the process of placating served on a Bureau of Land
can West for nearly two de- anti-grazing activists, fed- Management advisory
cades are going back to eral agencies have made board. "We've hardly got-
the drawing board under the No. 1 threat to the ten out of the chute. Let's
a new Trump administra- greater sage grouse in Ida- give it a chance."
tion edict to reassess exist- ho worse," Bedke said. Ida- The bureau's acting deputy
ing plans condemned by ho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter, director, John Ruhs, under-
ranchers, miners and en- In this April 20, 2013 file photo, male greater sage grouse per- a Republican, filed one of stands the frustration.
ergy developers. form mating rituals for a female grouse, not pictured, on a lake a series of lawsuits aimed at "A lot of folks have been
Federal officials are wrap- outside Walden, Colo. blocking the Obama plans. engaged in this topic for a
ping up a series of public Associated Press Conversely, Republican long time. Some have been
meetings with three ses- 2015 decision not to list it. policy and whether cattle Gov. Matt Mead of Wyo- at the table going back 15
sions starting Tuesday in "They appear to be dis- or wild horses cause more ming, Democratic Gov. years or more," said Ruhs,
Utah ahead of a Nov. 27 mantling the whole land- habitat degradation. There John Hickenlooper of Colo- who's worked for the agen-
cutoff for comment on In- planning amendment sys- was general agreement rado and Democratic Gov. cy in Nevada, Oregon, Col-
terior Secretary Ryan Zinke's tem and starting over," said that invasive cheat grass is Steve Bullock of Montana orado and Idaho.
order last month to con- Patrick Donnelly, the Cen- fueling one of the biggest have expressed concern "We're trying to find the
sider revisions to land man- ter for Biological Diversity's threats - catastrophic wild- that altering existing plans best methods to allow all
agement amendments for Nevada state director. fires - but little consensus on could undermine efforts to uses of the land to occur
the greater sage grouse "It's revisionist history," he what to do about it. prevent a listing. Nevada and still ensure protection
that were adopted under told a Fish and Wildlife Ser- "I don't understand why GOP Gov. Brian Sandoval of habitat," he said. "It's a
the Obama administration. vice official during a scop- we're starting all over also has cautioned against tall order."
Zinke says he wants to make ing meeting-turned-brain- again," shouted a man who wholesale changes, al- Donnelly, whose Arizona-
sure the amendments don't storming session at a Sparks briefly disrupted the meet- though he applauded Zin- based group has sued over
harm local economies in 11 hotel-casino Wednesday ing and refused to provide ke's recent lifting of a tem- failure to list hundreds of
western states and allow night. his name. porary ban on new mining species, said the intent of
the states to have maxi- Instead of recording public Nevada Farm Bureau Vice claims across about 15,600 the Obama amendments
mum control over the ef- testimony, agency officials President Doug Busselman square miles (40,400 square "was very clear: Prevent the
forts within their borders. marked up easel pads with said research increasingly kilometers) adopted under listing of the sage grouse."
Conservationists say it's a lists of criticisms, concerns suggests properly regu- Obama. That goal seems to have
thinly veiled attempt to al- and suggestions. About 80 lated grazing reduces fire Montana Fish and Wild- gotten lost, he said.
low more livestock graz- participants moved be- fuels. But he said existing life Commission Chairman "We heard a lot about min-
ing and drilling, similar to tween five breakout groups policy is "taking a restric- Dan Vermillion said existing eral withdrawals and local
Trump's efforts to roll back including "minerals," ''live- tive approach ... and then protections took a diverse collaboration, but all in the
national monument des- stock grazing," and "wildlife watching massive fires group of stakeholders years name of what?" Donnelly
ignations, but on a much and vegetation." sweep across the land- to work out. asked. "Are we still com-
larger scale. They warn it They treaded familiar scape, setting up the pro- "Those plans were essen- mitted to conserving sage
could land the hen-sized ground. Disagreement cess for expansion of cheat tial to keeping sage grouse grouse, or is the intention to
bird on the endangered reigned over the size of pro- grass, then more fire." from becoming endan- mine and drill every acre of
species list in 2020 when the tective buffer zones around The U.S. House Natural Re- gered," he wrote in a Nov. the West? If that's the case,
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grouse breeding grounds, sources Committee heard 7 letter to Zinke. we are plunging head-long
is scheduled to review its states' role in setting federal the same thing last month That's the message Karen toward listing the grouse."q