The Sage Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) is the largest grouse in North America, where it is known as the Greater Sage-Grouse. Its range is sagebrush country in the western United States and southern Alberta and Saskatchewan, Canada.
Residential building and energy development have caused the sage grouse population to decline from 16 million 100 years ago to 200,000 today. In Cheyenne, Wyoming, an Interior Department announced that it won't list sage grouse as an endangered or threatened species. This opens the way for continued development of the West's wind energy and oil and gas industries.
None the less, the industries will still face scrutiny in sage grouse habitat but much less so than if the bird were listed. The government concluded that listing the chicken-sized brown bird as threatened or endangered is warranted but precluded by higher priorities — other species considered in greater danger.
Sage grouse have experienced a 90 percent decline in their numbers and a 50 percent decline in their sagebrush habitat from a century ago, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said at a news conference.
My concern is did the government make such a move merely to bring on development and provide an increase in job opportunities for its state and lower unemployment. Or was the declining number of Sage Grouse considered too. With such a decision and the approved development of energy and oil and gas, what happens to the Sage Grouse?
What are your thoughts on this? Are they doing the right thing for the benefit of themselves or a mutual action for the protection of Sage Grouse species and development?
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