|
|||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
The upcoming decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service about whether to protect the sage-grouse under the Endangered Species Act is on the minds of many Westerners. Whatever the outcome, a wide cross-section of Westerners, including rural landowners, hunters, and scientists, agree we need an effective plan based on science that will recover the sage-grouse. Recent studies have confirmed that oil and gas drilling, which has increased dramatically across the Intermountain West in the past decade, is degradingsage-grouse breeding and nesting sites and leading to population declinesin Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and other Western states. By February 26, 2010, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is required to announce its determination of whether or not the sage-grouse warrants protection under the Endangered Species Act. Biologists see the plight of the sage-grouse as a warning that balance needs to be restored to sagebrush landscapes-including much of the best big-game habitat- across the West. Regardless of how it is accomplished, recovery of the sage-grouse and the restoration of the important sagebrush ecosystem it calls home will require the cooperation of many throughout the West.
WHO:
WHEN: For more information contact: Erin Robertson, Senior Staff Biologist, Center for Native Ecosystems, (303) 546.0214 x 5; erin@nativeecosystems.org Jennifer Dickson, Communications Manager, The Wilderness Society, (202) 316.2555; Jennifer_dickson@tws.org
| ||||||||
