( Mesa ) County signals its intent to sue over sage grouse ( Colorado )

Grand Junction - DAILY SENTINEL ^ | March 10, 2015 | Emily Shockley

[george76]

Mesa County commissioners have thrown their first jab in a growing fight against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over the department’s decision last November to list the Gunnison sage-grouse as a threatened species.

Commissioners on Monday approved and signed a notice of intent to sue the federal government for listing the Gunnison sage-grouse as threatened and for designating a critical habitat for the bird in western Colorado and eastern Utah.

The notice of intent to sue claims the listings are improper because the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service noted the Gunnison sage-grouse population in the Gunnison Basin is “stable and growing” and all but 14 percent of the species live in the basin.

The 29-page notice also contends the bird is already protected by Colorado Parks and Wildlife and a U.S. Bureau of Land Management moratorium on oil and gas development in Gunnison sage-grouse habitat.

Mesa County Attorney Patrick Coleman told commissioners Gunnison and Montrose counties in Colorado and San Juan County in Utah have filed their own notices of intent to sue over the listing and the states of Colorado and Utah have filed lawsuits.

“This doesn’t obligate us to sue,” Coleman said, referring to the notice. “It’s just a prerequisite toward that end.”

[BuffaloJack]

Come on!!
It’s nothing more than a wild chicken.

[dware]

This group of Commissioners here in Mesa County have been pretty decent - they also signed a resolution to protect county sovereignty over public lands.

[george76]

Good to see.

Gunnison and Montrose counties in Colorado and San Juan County in Utah have also filed their own notices

[MileHi]

Good. Tell the feds to pound sand.

[george76]

Some counties and sheriffs are doing good work = following the US Constitution and such.