President Biden mulls reversing Trump rules on the western grouse species
BILLINGS, MONT. >> The Biden administration on Friday said it will consider new measures to protect greater sage grouse, a bird species once found across much of the U.S. West that has suffered drastic declines in recent decades due to oil and gas drilling, grazing, wildfires and other pressures.
The announcement of a range-wide evaluation of habitat plans for greater sage grouse came after the Trump administration tried to scale back conservation efforts adopted when Biden was vice president in 2015.
A federal court blocked Trump’s changes. But Biden administration officials said the attempt set back conservation efforts — even as the chicken-sized bird’s habitat was further ravaged by wildfires, invasive plants and continued development.
Disagreement over the region’s sage grouse is longstanding and often bitter, and any new restrictions the administration adopts against energy or agriculture is sure to further inflame tensions. Republican-run
states and industries that profit off public lands have clashed with wildlife advocates over how much space the birds need to survive.
Many environmentalists insisted that the 2015 conservation plans didn’t go far enough because of loopholes that allowed grazing and drilling on land that sage grouse need. Opponents
said they hobbled economic progress.
Biologists say wide buffers from drilling and other activities are needed to protect sage grouse breeding areas where birds engage in elaborate annual mating rituals.
Bureau of Land Management Deputy Director Nada Culver said “everything’s on the table” as the agency
launches its evaluation of sage grouse habitat, with no set deadlines for action.
“From changes to the buffers, to how we manage energy development, to how we manage every other activity .... we are evaluating it and we are looking for input on what are the most important things to look at,” Culver said.