DOI-BLM Draft Sage-Grouse Habitat Conservation Strategy

Questions & Answers
BLM National Sage-Grouse Conservation Strategy

What is the purpose of the BLM National Sage-Grouse Habitat Conservation Strategy (“Strategy”)?
The purpose of the Strategy is to conserve and improve sage-grouse habitat so as to stabilize and improve sage-grouse populations on public land. The Strategy will serve as the overarching umbrella for the Bureau’s management of sagebrush habitat found on public lands.

What overall vision does the Strategy hold?
The vision of the Strategy is to manage public land in a manner that will maintain, enhance and restore sage-grouse and sagebrush habitats while providing for multiple uses of lands under BLM stewardship. The Strategy uses sound science, draws on BLM’s 30 years of experience and success in sagebrush conservation, and reinforces the importance of working in cooperation with States as the Bureau translates its broad knowledge and experience into action at the local and regional levels.

What are the main goals outlined in the Strategy?

  • Developing a consistent and effective management framework for addressing the conservation needs of sage-grouse on public lands.
  • Increasing understanding of resource conditions and priorities for maintaining and restoring habitat.
  • Expanding and enhancing available research and data that support effective sage-grouse management.
  • Continuing to develop partnerships to enhance effective habitat management.
  • Ensuring that leadership and resources are adequate to implement conservation strategies at the National, State and local levels.

What threats to sage-grouse and their habitat are addressed in the Strategy?
No single factor is the cause of declining sage-grouse populations. But since the beginning of settlement in the West, numerous activities have adversely affected the number of birds and the amount, distribution and quality of sagebrush habitats:

  • habitat loss and degradation
  • habitat fragmentation
  • altered fire regimes
  • sagebrush destruction
  • woodland encroachment
  • weed infestation
  • rehabilitation challenges
  • pesticide application
  • drought
  • structures (e.g., power lines, fences, water developments, wind turbines)

How does this document relate to the Draft Strategy released in June 2003?
The BLM issued a Draft Strategy in June 2003 and took public comment on it until November 1, 2003. Individuals and agencies concerned with sage-grouse conservation submitted an extensive amount of information during the comment period. The Final Strategy reflects the most current information and the many comments received from the public, state agencies, industry and special interest groups.

Does the National Strategy replace various conservation strategies and plans being developed by state and local working groups across the West?
No. The National Strategy describes management practices designed to support and promote the range-wide conservation of sagebrush habitats for sage-grouse and other sagebrush-dependent wildlife species. It will guide BLM field offices until state- and local-level sage-grouse conservation plans developed in collaboration with state wildlife experts are completed and made part of BLM's land use plans.

BLM State and Field Offices will use the guidance in the National Strategy until the Bureau and its partners (1) finalize and adopt BLM State-level strategies and/or state wildlife agency-led sage-grouse conservation plans, and/or (2) incorporate specific habitat objectives and conservation measures developed in collaboration with state wildlife agencies and local working groups into appropriate BLM planning documents. Guidance in the National Strategy may be modified to best fit local and regional conditions and to reflect progress in efforts to complete State-level strategies.

How does this document relate to the Conservation Assessment released in June 2004 by the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA)?
In finalizing the Strategy, the BLM carefully considered WAFWA’s assessment (11.6MB PDF) of current status and trends in sage-grouse populations and habitats across the West, the first assessment of its kind. Information from the assessment was carefully reviewed and incorporated into the Strategy where appropriate.

How will BLM use and implement the Strategy?
The Strategy will provide consistent guidance for BLM State offices as they develop and implement State-level habitat conservation strategies for the public lands they manage. Implementation will occur through ongoing planning and through development of a management framework that will consistently and effectively address sage-grouse conservation needs. Adequate resources and leadership will be secured and devoted to ensure success.

What process will BLM use for implementing the Strategy?
The land use planning process authorized by the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) will be the primary mechanism for making decisions and taking action to conserve and restore sage-grouse and sagebrush habitats as directed in the Strategy. The process maximizes the opportunity for the kind of public involvement that is a platform for applying scientific knowledge and past experience to future conservation efforts. Land use plans are also flexible enough to be amended where necessary to integrate conservation goals outlined in the Strategy.

How does the Strategy account for the impacts of sage-grouse conservation on other uses and activities on the public lands?
The land use planning process will consider the effects of sage-grouse and sagebrush conservation on other uses of public land – including recreation, energy development, livestock grazing, mining and fire management – and how other public land activities can be integrated with the conservation effort.

In addition, BLM specialists and managers actively support efforts to conserve sage-grouse on lands managed by other government agencies or by private entities. This ensures the cooperative, sustained, broad-scale, multi-jurisdictional action that has already yielded on-the-ground successes in numerous places.

How would a decision to list the sage-grouse as an endangered or threatened species affect the Strategy?
On or before December 29, 2004 the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service will submit a finding on whether listing the Greater sage-grouse as threatened or endangered is warranted under the Endangered Species Act. Preparation of the Strategy was initiated as part of the federal contribution to conserving sagebrush habitat under an agreement with WAFWA signed in 2000, well before the listing petition was filed. The Strategy is designed to build on this cooperative conservation effort and to enhance its effectiveness. Therefore, the listing process does not affect the content of the Strategy.

In recent years, the BLM has been managing sage-grouse according to Bureau policies for special-status (sensitive) species. In addition, BLM involvement in sage-grouse and sagebrush habitat conservation predates by decades the more recent efforts at coordinated, rangewide conservation. If the sage-grouse were listed under the ESA, sage-grouse management would then be conducted under a defined regulatory process that could shift the emphasis away from cooperative conservation efforts. This could affect a wide scope of activities conducted or authorized by the BLM. However, the Strategy itself envisions the same conservation objectives that underlie the ESA.

What is next for the Strategy and for BLM’s efforts to conserve sage-grouse on public lands?
By early 2005 BLM State Offices will develop conservation strategies for sagebrush habitat in their jurisdictions that will coordinate with the BLM National Strategy. All BLM land use plans will continue to be reviewed and revised as necessary to support ongoing implementation of sage-grouse conservation strategies.

The Bureau will continue to develop and implement conservation projects at the local level in the spirit of Interior Secretary Gale Norton’s 4 C’s philosophy of communication, cooperation and consultation in the service of conservation.

The BLM will also report annually on progress in implementing the Strategy and will modify the Strategy as needed.

Who are the BLM’s partners in sage-grouse habitat conservation?
In keeping with Interior Secretary Norton’s 4 C’s philosophy, communication, cooperation and consultation among federal and state agencies, American Indian tribes, BLM Resource Advisory Councils at the state level, conservation groups, and individual stakeholders have supported BLM’s conservation planning and actions.

State wildlife management agencies were especially important as the Strategy was drafted. The Western Association of Wildlife Management Agencies (WAFWA) completed the first-ever rangewide assessment (11.6MB PDF) of current conditions on sagebrush habitat across the West. This assessment provided a much needed baseline for conservation planning.

States, particularly through the Western Governors Association, have also been partners in developing best management practices (BMPs) for authorized uses and management activities on BLM-administered public land and ensuring that sage-grouse conservation is addressed in all facets of state-level land use planning.

Other federal partners include the Fish & Wildlife Service, the USDA Forest Service and BLM’s partners in wildland fire management.

Partnerships and cooperation with private landowners and commercial land users have resulted in additional conservation success.

Go to BLM'S Sage-Grouse Home Page

Last Updated: 11/17/04