USF&WS: Sage Grouse 'Precluded' from ESA Listing

From the agency's Website, following the decision announced Friday:

"After a thorough analysis of the best available scientific information, the Fish and Wildlife Service has concluded that the greater sage-grouse warrants protection under the Endangered Species Act. However, the Service has determined that proposing the species for protection is precluded by the need to take action on other species facing more immediate and severe extinction threats.

"As a result, the greater sage-grouse will be placed on the list of species that are candidates for Endangered Species Act Protection. The Service will review the status of the species annually, as it does with all candidate species, and will propose the species for protection when funding and workload priorities for other listing actions allow.

"Evidence suggests that habitat fragmentation and destruction across much of the species’ range has contributed to significant population declines over the past century. If current trends persist, many local populations may disappear in the next several decades, with the remaining fragmented population vulnerable to extinction.

"However, the sage-grouse population as a whole remains large enough and is distributed across such a large portion of the western United States that the needs of other species facing more immediate and severe threat of extinction must take priority."

The F&WS web page announcing the decisions has several Fact Sheets and resources on the decline of the sage grouse population and how federal managers hope to continue working with the Western states on managing the species and its habitat.