Wednesday, June 3, 2020

Sage Grouse Habitat Protected by US Court

Greater Sage Grouse, the largest species of American grouse, have declined precipitously in numbers across western states during recent years (photo by Evan Barrientos).

Last Friday, a US District Court canceled hundreds of oil leases issued by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) after finding the current administration violated federal law by leasing sensitive Greater Sage Grouse habitat. The court struck down the basis for the Department of the Interior’s massive oil and gas leasing plans on more than a million acres of public lands that provide key habitat for Greater Sage Grouse, an iconic and threatened bird species of the western United States.

The administration attempted to gut a key part of the Bureau of Land Management’s 2015 sage grouse plan which was the result of a historic cooperative effort by conservationists, the ranching industry, the energy industry, sportsmen, and government officials.

In December 2017, the Trump administration reversed course on the 2015 plan to pursue a radically different BLM policy directive that allowed millions of acres of oil and gas leasing in sensitive sage grouse habitat. Friday the court invalidated that 2017 directive and nullified 440 oil and gas leases on about 336,000 acres of land (525 square miles) that the BLM sold as part of its policy reversal.

The decision came in a lawsuit filed by Earthjustice on behalf of the Montana Wildlife Federation, Montana Audubon, the Wilderness Society, National Wildlife Federation, and National Audubon Society. For more information, see https://www.audubon.org/news/court-strikes-down-trump-administrations-sage-grouse-directive-canceling