Shoshone Basin, Burley (Idaho) Field Office

"Before it was over, we had all bent."

The Shoshone Basin lies approximately 30 miles south of Twin Falls, Idaho. The focus of sge-grouse management begun in 1994 was four BLM grazing allotments and associated private lands (36,000 acres; 6,000 AUMs) where sage-grouse numbers had declined.

The Shoshone Basin Local Working Group - the first group of its kind in Idaho - thoroughly discussed the many factors potentially contributing to sage-grouse population declines, including habitat conditions, predation, drought, cattle grazing, prescribed burning, herbicide spraying and hunting. While no consensus was reached on the relative importance of these factors, the group decided to focus its efforts on habitat and livestock management issues.

The group ultimately agreed on three management recommendations they believed would produce a win-win solution to the complex problem of providing livestock forage while meeting the seasonal habitat requirements of sage-grouse.

• manage all uplands and riparian vegetation to ensure properly functioning systems;
• provide sufficient nesting, brood rearing, and winter habitat to reverse the downward trend and increase sage-grouse numbers; and
• provide a stable long-term forage base to sustain existing cattle operations.

Focusing on sage-grouse and livestock management issues a few allotments at a time requires a considerable investment of time and effort by agency personnel, ranchers and other participants. Nevertheless, this approach was successful and resulted in a variety of proactive and innovative changes to land management that will benefit sage-grouse and livestock operators in the basin in both the short term and the long term.

One of the most significant issues the group dealt with was how to address private lands, which comprise approximately 35 percent of the area and are commonly incorporated into BLM grazing allotments. Private lands also provide much of the important sage-grouse habitat in the basin.

The group found that incorporating private lands provided greater management flexibility and would achieve the greatest benefit for both livestock and sage-grouse. Under the group's plan for these allotments, the acres of sage-grouse habitat rated as excellent can increase from 14 percent to 30 percent while the current level of AUMs is maintained.

In the first year of implementation, sage grouse nesting habitat in excellent condition occupied 14% of the project area. In 2001, 24% of the project area was rated as excellent habitat. Sagebrush canopy cover also appears to have increased significantly throughout the area.

Other sagebrush habitat improvements include:

• Creation of three riparian pastures for improved brood-rearing habitat and stream health
• Controlling non-native bulbous bluegrass to provide improved habitat and rangeland health
• Rabbitbrush control for improved brood-rearing habitat
• Re-establishing native plant species to improve nesting habitat and overall rangeland health, and reduce the occurrence of cheatgrass and other fire-prone non-native vegetation
• Re-distribution of livestock uses from sage-grouse nesting habitat

Significant to the Shoshone Basin Local Working Group effort is the resulting collaborative partnership, where each party was willing to compromise positions to ensure the success of the project. As rancher Bill Thompson so colorfully put it, “They weren’t going to bend. We weren’t going to bend. Before it was over, we had all bent.”

Other Local Working Groups can look to the Shoshone Basin as an example of livestock and wildlife both benefiting from proper land management practices on private and public lands.

Local BLM Contact: Michael Courtney, Burley Field Office - (208) 677-6635