Feature Creature: Greater Sage-Grouse

Well-known for males' elaborate courtship displays, Greater Sage-Grouse are strongly tied to the sagebrush habitats of western North America. Once widespread throughout much of western North America, the Greater Sage-Grouse has seen its range contract greatly during the past 200 years. It is now found primarily in eastern Montana, Wyoming, northwestern Colorado, Utah, southern Idaho, Nevada, and northeastern California. There is also an isolated population in central Washington.

It is difficult to provide an accurate population number for Greater Sage-Grouse, but a 1998 estimate of 142,000 birds is "clearly lower" than historical population levels. This species' historic range once included parts of 16 states and three provinces, but now encompasses only 11 states and two provinces. In all these remaining states and provinces, Greater Sage-Grouse has experienced a range reduction and/or population decline.

Conserving the Greater Sage Grouse is a major challenge in the 11 Western states with sage grouse populations. Sage Grouse inhabit a complex sagebrush ecosystem which is home to multiple species of concern. They are what are known as landscape users traveling as much as 45 miles a year to find the necessary habitat for their annual life cycle.

The major threat to Greater Sage-Grouse is the continued degradation and destruction of sagebrush habitats across the West. Agriculture has completely eliminated millions of hectares of native shrub-steppe habitat dominated by sagebrush, while additional millions of hectares of shrub-steppe have been stripped of their sagebrush vegetation. Overgrazing and urban development also contribute to the degradation of shrub-steppe habitat.

Perhaps because of its status as a game bird, Greater Sage-Grouse has been the focus of some conservation concern during recent years. The Western States Sage and Columbian Sharp-tailed Grouse Technical Committee, under the direction of the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, called for the revision of old guidelines for managing sage-grouse populations and their habitats. This resulted in the publication of the document "Guidelines to manage sage grouse and their habitats," which provides management recommendations for local agencies trying to conserve these birds.

In May 1999, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service received a petition to list the western subspecies of Greater Sage-Grouse, found in Washington, under the Endangered Species Act. This request, based on population declines and habitat loss in Washington, is still under consideration.

The scope of the effort to conserve the sage grouse is unprecedented. As the sage grouse is threatened by habitat loss, fragmentation, and degradation due to wildfire, invasion of non-native plants, livestock management, agricultural conversion, herbicide treatment and mining and energy development, among other causes. Conservation to this end is both broad based and locally driven. All of the states within the sage grouse range are engaged in this conservation effort and have brought together a myriad of partners together, including local ranchers, non-profit organizations, industry, local governments, and federal agencies.