Overview

Once seen in great numbers across sagebrush landscapes of the West, sage-grouse have declined over the past century due to loss, degradation and fragmentation of the habitats that are essential for their survival. Greater sage-grouse now occupy about 56% of the potential habitat available to them prior to the arrival of settlers of European descent. Gunnison sage-grouse now occupy about 10% of potential pre-settlement habitat. A broad segment of the public is concerned about the health of remaining sagebrush lands and the diverse plants and animals they support.

This concern has prompted formation of cooperative partnerships among wildlife agencies in Western states and Federal agencies such as the BLM, the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Together, these partners are planning and coordinating actions to conserve and manage sagebrush habitat for the benefit of sage-grouse and other sagebrush-dependent species. The success of this rangewide effort relies on the involvement of multiple State, Federal and Tribal agencies, as well as special-interest groups and private landowners.

Managing sage-grouse is a shared responsibility.

Acting through their respective wildlife management agencies, states manage all resident wildlife, including sage-grouse. Federal land management agencies such as the BLM and the U.S. Forest Service are responsible for managing habitat on lands under their respective jurisdictions. Local governments and private landowners or administrators may also have specific responsibilities related to wildlife and habitat. Sage-grouse benefit from and make use of suitable habitat regardless of its ownership and management responsibility, so it is important that all stakeholders be engaged in any conservation effort.

The BLM Role
While states are primarily responsible for managing species, the BLM is steward of more than half of all remaining sagebrush habitat in the United States, more than 57 million acres. Sage-grouse occupy about 30 million of those acres. Another 10 million acres are potentially suitable as habitat. The law directs the BLM to manage the public lands for multiple use and to permit a variety of activities to occur on that land. These activities may positively or adversely affect the quality of wildlife habitat.

The BLM recognizes the critical need to maintain and restore sagebrush habitat on public lands as a means of conserving sage-grouse populations. The BLM is a strong partner in state and local sage-grouse conservation planning and supports these efforts by addressing conservation needs on a broader, multi-state, regional and national basis, and by implementing policy consistently across all the lands it manages.

The goals of the BLM approach to sage-grouse habitat conservation are:

• Carrying out the BLM’s multiple-use mission of sustaining healthy landscapes and the productivity of the public lands for use and enjoyment by present and future generations while providing for various uses of BLM-managed public lands, as called for under law.
• Conserving and enhancing sage-grouse habitat to stabilize and enhance present sage-grouse populations and help ensure healthy populations in the future.
• Conserving and enhancing sagebrush habitat for the benefit of the diverse species that are dependent on it for all or part of their life cycles.
• Achieving these goals through cooperative conservation in consultation, cooperation and communication with the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Geological Survey, state wildlife agencies, local sage-grouse working groups and many other partners.

To accomplish these goals, the BLM participates in two interrelated planning efforts, which complement one another but serve different purposes.

1. State wildlife agencies are leading one effort, the development of sage-grouse conservation plans for all lands, whether they are managed or owned by public agencies or private parties. As one of several partners in this effort, the BLM assigns employees to actively participate in the development of these plans. This helps ensure that strategies the BLM develops will parallel and complement efforts led by state wildlife agencies.
   
   The Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA) is coordinating planning across all affected states. State-led conservation plans are presently in various stages of completion.
2. The BLM is leading the other effort, developing habitat conservation strategies specific to BLM-managed public lands. As described above, these BLM strategies are closely linked to the state wildlife agency-led effort and are taking shape on two levels.
   
   Level One: The BLM’s National Sage-Grouse Habitat Conservation Strategy provides Bureau-wide guidance on sage-grouse habitat management to BLM offices in states with sagebrush landscapes. The National Strategy assists BLM State Offices as they develop State-level strategies for public lands in concert with the state wildlife agency-led process.
   
   A draft national strategy was released for public comment June 21, 2003. The BLM Sage-Grouse Strategy Team then considered a number of factors in developing the Final National Sage-Grouse Habitat Conservation Strategy. (244KB PDF) The agency received many comments from the public, industry, state agencies, and special-interest groups. The BLM also conducted listening sessions in many Western states, particularly with representatives of local working groups drafting state and local sage-grouse conservation plans. Under agreement with WAFWA, the BLM also contributed to the first rangewide Conservation Assessment and in turn integrated applicable data from that report into the Final National Strategy.
   
   The team also developed tools to promote and assist field-level conservation efforts for use by the agency’s State and Field Office personnel: Guidance for Addressing Sagebrush Habitat Conservation in BLM Land Use Plans (81KB PDF) and Guidance for the Management of Sagebrush Plant Communities for Sage-Grouse Conservation (363KB PDF).
   
   Level Two: BLM State-level strategies will complement state wildlife agency sage-grouse conservation plans but will provide more detail about BLM-specific considerations. They will guide incorporation of sage-grouse habitat considerations into the BLM’s existing and new land use plans.
   
   • The BLM will review all existing plans to determine if they adequately address sage-grouse habitat considerations and will assess whether updates or amendments are necessary.
   • BLM State-level strategies will help ensure that activities authorized, permitted or conducted by the agency avoid harming sage-grouse habitat.
   • BLM State-level strategies will also set goals for enhancing sagebrush habitat, thereby benefiting populations of sage-grouse and other species dependent on the sagebrush ecosystem.
   BLM State-level strategies are in various stages of completion and are closely related to ongoing WAFWA-coordinated conservation planning.

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Last Updated: 11/23/05

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