Re: May 24 Vincent Carroll column.
Vincent Carroll touts recent state efforts to prevent listing of the Gunnison sage grouse, and hopes that similar efforts will prevent the listing of the greater sage grouse. What he fails to mention is that conservation efforts for the Gunnison sage grouse were unenforceable and inadequate, as highlighted in the comprehensive report “Too Little and Too Late: Inadequate Regulatory Mechanisms and the Plight of the Gunnison Sage Grouse.” The same appears to be true for greater sage grouse conservation plans.
States could absolutely conserve sage grouse without federal intervention, and they have had their chance. Sage grouse are well understood. To survive, they need less than one wellpad per square mile, less than 3 percent human disturbance of habitat, and 4-mile setbacks from leks to keep industrial disturbance away from breeding and nesting habitats.
Simply reining in overgrazing — applying respect for the land — also yields major benefits for sage grouse, and other wildlife as well. Unfortunately, the states have not shown the necessary political will to include these requirements in the proposed conservation measures, and instead are bending over backwards not to limit extractive industries.
Colorado’s failure to require protections for Gunnison sage grouse doomed that bird to major declines and, in some parts of the state, extinction.
Greater sage grouse have also suffered major declines over recent years. Rapid expansion of fossil fuel operations has fragmented and destroyed the sagebrush ecosystems these birds need to survive. Due to overgrazing, half the public lands in northwest Colorado are failing federal standards for healthy rangelands. It’s a land health crisis that has wracked the interior West for decades. Rather than bemoaning “draconian” federal intervention, states should take responsibility for conservation and seize this opportunity to transform land management from cheap and dirty to smart and sustainable.
Erik Molvar is the Sagebrush Sea Campaign director for WildEarth Guardians in Laramie, Wyo.
To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit or check out our for how to submit by e-mail or mail.
