BLM releases draft Gunnison sage-grouse plan ( Colorado, Utah ..)

Grand Junction Media ^ | August 11, 2016 | Dennis Webb

[george76]

The BLM released its draft environmental impact statement Thursday. It is proposing amending up to 11 resource management plans in the two states. In 2014, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service determined the Gunnison sage-grouse requires listing as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.

...

about 5,000 breeding Gunnison sage-grouse live in the two states. Some 4,000 live in the Gunnison Basin, and the others in six satellite populations in Colorado and a seventh in Utah.

...

Fish and Wildlife pointed to the low numbers of birds in the other populations and their range of habitat threats as critical factors in its listing decision.

“As a result, these population areas are key to species recovery and require different combinations of protection than needed within the Gunnison Basin,” the BLM says.

It says its approach for these areas would balance “resources and resource use among competing human interests, land uses, and the conservation of natural and cultural resource values, while sustaining and enhancing ecological integrity across the population, including plant and wildlife habitat.”

[MileHi]

We gotta get the feds outta Colorado.

[george76]

Feds “save” spotted owls by killing barred owls.

But their real success has been killing jobs and hurting people.

http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2013/12/feds_begin_killing_barred_owls.html

[CedarDave]

New Mexico won it's case against listing the lessor prairie chicken due to screw ups in the science used for F&W's justification and also due to conservation efforts agreed to by the ranchers and oil companies. However, that hasn't deterred F&W. They are redoing the science to make another run at it.

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