Agency advances grouse changes

BOISE, IDAHO» The U.S. Forest Service advanced changes to sage grouse protections in five Western states that environmental groups say are part of the Trump administration’s efforts favoring industry but that push the imperiled bird closer to extinction.

The agency on Friday released draft plans altering rules, put in place in 2015 by the Obama administration, generally viewed as keeping the bird from being list ed for federal protections under the Endangered Species Act.

The new plans cover 8,000 square miles of greater sage grouse habitat in Idaho, Colorado, Nevada, Wyoming and Utah.

John Shivik, the Forest Service’s national greater sage grouse coordinator, said the plans balance protections for sage grouse while improving efficiency and aligning federal and state efforts. He said the goal is to protect habitat while also meeting the agency’s mandate to make lands available for recreation, mining and livestock grazing.

“What we want people to know is how we’re supporting sage grouse and multiple use at the same time,” he said.

Greta Anderson of the Idahobased environmental group Western Watersheds Project blasted the plan as a gift for industries. She said the documents are based on politics and not science.

“The only reason to be walking back protections was if the bird was recovering, and it’s not,” she said.