WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Thursday, June 13, conservation organizations submitted comments in opposition of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) draft amendment, which addresses impacts on Wyoming’s greater sage-grouse populations.
The BLM released the public draft of the Greater Sage-Grouse multi-state Management Plan and its accompanying Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on March 14. The plan encompasses 77 land-use plans across 69 million acres of BLM-managed public lands throughout 10 western states, including Wyoming.
The BLM manages the largest single share of sage-grouse habitat in the United States —nearly 67 million acres of 145 million total acres. The draft plan offers a range of alternatives for sustainable management of these lands intended to protect the greater sage grouse, according to the BLM.
The conservation groups say that the preferred alternative laid out in the plan falls short of what’s needed to conserve bird’s populations. The groups are calling on the BLM to select proposed Alternative 3, stating that this option affords the most protections to remaining sage grouse habitat.
“This alternative follows the best available science recommendations that will protect intact habitat from a range of damaging uses,” the conservation groups’ news release says.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the greater sage grouse declined nearly 80% between 1968 and 2023 and 40% since 2002. To reverse the species’ declining populations, the BLM updated alternatives to the plan in 2019.
“The majesty of the West and its way of life are at stake,” BLM Director Tracy Stone-Manning said in a March press release. “Sagebrush lands are places where people work and play, and they are the headwaters for the West’s major rivers. Joint efforts to conserve the greater sage-grouse and its habitat led to the largest collaborative conservation effort in our history, and we are building on that work, together with our partners, to ensure the health of these lands and local economies into the future.”
The following conservation groups collaborated on the submitted comments: Advocates for the West, American Bird Conservancy, Center for Biological Diversity, Earthworks, Great Old Broads for Wilderness, Oregon Natural Desert Association, Prairie Hills Audubon Society, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, WildEarth Guardians, Western Shoshone Defense Project, Western Watersheds Project and Western Wildlands Conservancy.
The comment period for the draft environmental impact statement and plan amendments ended on June 13.
