SALT LAKE CITY—A prairie bird once scattered around Utah, but now more rare, will soon be staging a comeback at Antelope Island State Park.
The Utah Wildlife Board approved a plan Thursday to allow about 60 Columbian sharp-tailed grouse to be transplanted to the island in the middle of the Great Salt Lake.
The project is part of a larger effort to bolster the bird’s population in Utah and keep it off the federal endangered species list.
Crews may move the first set of birds to the island later this spring. More will be transplanted next fall and winter, according to Dave Olsen, a state biologist.
The Columbian sharp-tailed grouse is one of seven subspecies of sharp-tailed grouse in North America.
It once roamed much of northern and central Utah, but as agricultural operations moved in, grassland converted to cropland and the ground-nesting bird moved out. Today, it occupies about 5 percent of its historic habitat in Utah—mostly in Box Elder, Cache and Morgan counties—and is considered a “sensitive” species by wildlife officials.
Olsen said he’s hoping the project at the 28,000-acre Antelope Island will demonstrate the effectiveness of transplanting the birds and re-establishing populations in some of its native range in the state.
The birds will be brought in from northern Utah. Some will be affixed with tracking equipment so they can be monitored.
“Ideally, we’d like to get 100 to 150 birds there to be sustainable,” Olsen said.
Steve Bates, wildlife range manager at Antelope Island, said the project is part of an overall effort to restore native species to the park. After a prescribed burn on the island, crews planted forbs that the grouse likes to eat and have taken other steps to increase its odds of survival.
Antelope Island does have predators—including coyotes—but they seem to prefer rodents and pronghorn fawns, Bates said. He said he doesn’t expect them to put a large dent in the sharp-tailed grouse once they arrive.
Biologists have identified 26 other places in Utah where the grouse might be re-established over the next 10 years.
Historically, the ground-nesting bird ranged west of the continental divide in parts of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada and Utah.
Now, it lives in parts of Washington, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado and Montana, according to federal officials. Many of the populations are small and isolated, making them vulnerable to threats such as habitat loss, grazing, drought and fire.
In 2006, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said a petition by environmental groups didn’t contain enough information to put the grouse on the federal endangered species list. A lawsuit filed in November is challenging that decision.
Olsen said keeping the bird off the list may require efforts like those in Utah to boost the grouse’s numbers.
“Anything we can do to maintain management with the state is preferable to the Endangered Species Act,” Olsen said.
