Gunnison sage grouse decline to alarming low, nonprofit says

The number of Colorado Gunnison sage grouse has reached alarming levels, dropping to as few as 1,800 birds, well under the 5,000 needed for a viable population, according to a nonprofit environmental conservation group.

Members of the Western Watersheds Project said they have counted only 429 strutting males rangewide in 2019, down from 1,129 in 2015, marking the lowest since reliable records have been kept starting in the 1990s.

“Another bad year for the main Gunnison basin population could spell disaster, so state officials need to leap into action to help these amazing birds,” Ryan

Shannon, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a news release from the conservation group.

The group’s numbers are derived from state data released this year.

The decline raises major questions about the adequacy of federal and state officials’ efforts to protect the imperiled birds, the group said.

In 2015, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declared the grouse officially threatened, triggering Endangered Species Act protections.

“Colorado Parks and Wildlife is concerned about this year’s low count of Gunnison sage grouse and will continue to evaluate the data and our on-theground efforts to manage the species and to enhance and protect habitat through treatments and conservation easements,” said Rebecca Ferrell, a Parks and Wildlife spokeswoman, in a written statement Wednesday.

Sage grouse numbers typically bottom out with low population periods occurring about every 10 years, followed by periods of increasing numbers, according to Parks and Wildlife.

Two extreme winter seasons — exceptionally dry in 2017-18 and deep snow in 2018-19 — raised challenging conditions for the birds and biologists who track them, Parks and Wildlife said. State officials rely on a three-year running average, and managers will not realize the full extent of recent lower numbers until the spring 2020 count.

Despite recent extreme weather challenges and low counts, Colorado Parks and Wildlife has “had anecdotal observations of large numbers of sage-grouse chicks in 2019.”

The Western Watersheds Project’s Clait Braun, who formerly led the state’s sage-grouse research program, said loss of habitat is contributing significantly to the decline of the birds. Burying powerlines, closing roads through habitat areas, taking down fences, and reducing or eliminating livestock grazing should help restore numbers.