Idaho deal urges landowners to protect sage grouse

[depakid]

daho and the federal government have signed an agreement that offers incentive and protection for ranchers and landowners who voluntarily take conservation steps to improve the plight of the sage grouse and its declining habitat. The agreement, hailed by federal wildlife officials as the first of its kind anywhere in the bird's range, for now targets an isolated population across 640,000 acres in southwest Idaho. But similar pacts are being negotiated elsewhere in Idaho, Wyoming and other western states inhabited by a species being considered for listing under the Endangered Species Act.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is under a court imposed deadline to make a listing decision on the bird by Feb. 26. The accord signed Friday by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game and the federal service would give landowners who voluntarily adopt habitat restoration measures protection from future land use regulations if the game bird is granted endangered status. "We're trying to be proactive and do the right thing for the landscape," said Cal Groen, Idaho Fish and Game director. "Private landowners are a key for this effort. We feel this will be good for sage grouse and private landowners."

Once abundant in the sagebrush steppes stretching from the Dakotas to California, sage grouse populations and habitat suitable for breeding are dwindling from threats posed by oil and gas development, livestock grazing, urban sprawl, invasive species, drought and wildfires. State and federal researchers differ on exact population numbers but agree the chicken-sized bird now occupies about half its original year-round habitat. In 2005, federal biologists estimated 100,000 to 500,000 greater sage grouse lived across 11 western states.

The FWS has two weeks to meet a deadline imposed by U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill as part of a lawsuit filed by conservationists pushing to bolster sage grouse numbers and tougher habitat protections. Under terms of the voluntary conservation agreement, landowners who agree to plant sagebrush, add wetlands or change grazing patterns to improve breeding ground habitat will be unburdened by tougher land-use rules typically imposed for endangered plants and animals.

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