WYOMING — On Monday, Dec. 22, the Trump administration released the Greater Sage-grouse Resource Management Plan Amendment for Wyoming. The Bureau of Land Management released a plan to manage 3.6 million acres of public land in August, 2024. Part of this project has been considering conservation and management of greater sage-grouse habitat on public lands.
Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon applauded the plan.
“Wyoming has been a leader in the sage-grouse conservation for six decades, and the State of Wyoming’s Executive Order Greater Sage-Grouse Core Area Protection strategy has spanned three Governors in its foresight to have a state-lead conservation strategy,” Governor Gordon said in a statement. “We will continue to invest in sage-grouse conservation alongside responsible development in Wyoming.”
Environmental organizations had a less enthusiastic response.
“These sage-grouse plan amendments are designed to strip away any habitat protections that might possibly get in the way of the industrial-scale exploitation of public lands inhabited by sage-grouse, whether by oil corporations or the livestock industry, even as sage-grouse populations continue to decline,” said Executive Director of Western Watersheds Project Erik Molvar in a press release.
The original plan provided a seven-inch grass height standard, which was intended to protect habitat against excessive grazing by commercial livestock. That standard is now optional for all states except Montana and the Dakotas. Four key sage-grouse habitat areas that qualify for Area of Critical Environmental Concern designation were also denied.
