A new Bureau of Land Management (BLM) plan will standardize rules on grazing, development and oil and gas leasing across the range of the Gunnison sage-grouse. Wildlife managers hope the action is a step toward the species’ eventual recovery.
With the largest population of birds, and the most connected habitat, the Gunnison Basin is the stronghold for Gunnison sage-grouse, said BLM project manager Gina Phillips. Since the grouse was listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) in 2014, local land management agencies have closely monitored the bird’s numbers, and protected its habitat to ensure the bird’s population is stable. The effort has required buy-in from all sectors of the community, from private landowners and ranchers, to students at Western Colorado University and Gunnison County representatives.
Small satellite populations exist in nine other Western Slope counties, and in portions of eastern Utah. These populations are managed by a mixture of different BLM field offices, natural conservation areas and a national monument. The result is inconsistency, and biologists speculate that this may be a cause of the sage-grouse’s decline in some areas.
“To recover the bird, that’s where numbers have to go up,” said BLM Biologist Kathy Brodhead. “Gunnison is seen as the most resistant and resilient population for good reason: we have birds and we have habitat.”
To address falling numbers, the agency amended 11 management plans between Colorado and Utah this fall on more than two million acres of BLM-managed land. The guidelines — consistent across the region — include a one-mile buffer around Gunnison sage-grouse habitat, close areas with no or low oil and gas development potential to new leases and limit “surface disturbance,” such as the construction of pipes, power lines or well pads. The plan also adds new areas where the management will focus on further protecting the grouse’s habitat.
But some wildlife advocates, such as Erik Molvar, a wildlife biologist and executive director with Western Watersheds Project, find the plan “disappointing.” He said, in some aspects, it doesn't measure up to the habitat protections for the greater sage-grouse in Colorado, a species that is declining, but not listed as threatened or endangered. And while the restrictions in place for oil and gas leasing are strong, the plan weakens around the issues of livestock grazing, road construction and renewable energy development.
“There's not a whole lot in this plan that you can hang your hat on,” Molvar said. “With all of the efforts that local individuals and governments are making, you would expect the federal government to do its part to protect Gunnison sage-grouse.”
Public land managers have been protecting the Gunnison Basin’s sage-grouse populations under a candidate conservation agreement (CCA) for more than a decade. The CCA is a voluntary agreement between U.S. Fish and Wildlife and other parties — such as local governments, tribes and private landowners — to remove or reduce threats to the species. Fish and Wildlife Service establishes protections for terrestrial species that are listed as threatened or endangered. The CCA provided guidance on grazing, and new infrastructure, roads and trails based on how much they are expected to disturb sage-grouse and their habitat.
In 2020, Fish and Wildlife released a recovery plan that spurred the BLM, which had limited internal guidance on how to manage the threatened bird, to draft this new, regional plan. Fish and Wildlife had also required the BLM to revisit the agreement if populations fell below a certain threshold. However, many portions of the Gunnison Basin’s original CCA were incorporated into it, Brodhead said.
While communities next door to the Gunnison-sage grouse’s satellite populations will see more changes under the new plan, management in the Gunnison Valley, for the most part, will remain business as usual thanks to the CCA. This is with the exception of the designating new “areas of critical environmental concern” (ACEC) and modified grazing guidelines. ACECs are zones with restrictions in place to protect sensitive plant and animal species.
Chance Gulch and Sapinero Mesa are now ACECs and closed to the development of new trails. While motorized closures around the valley for the sage-grouse breeding season typically run from March 15 to May 15, these will be extended through July 15 at Chance Gulch, Sapinero Mesa (west of County Road 26) and the newly designated Sugar Creek Backcountry Conservation Area. Sugar Creek is a BLM-managed area south of Big Mesa.
Over the past several decades, the number of birds in Chance Gulch — located in the sagebrush hills behind the Gunnison landfill — has declined. Because the area is popular among bikers, hikers and dog walkers, the designation is meant to protect the area from the growing pressure of recreation. The story is similar at Sapinero Mesa, home to some of the BLM’s best sage-grouse habitat, Brodhead said. It is also a site where the BLM has made large investments in wet meadow restoration and invasive cheatgrass treatments. The Sugar Creek designation will help keep the area, which is mostly free of roads, intact.
Because of the prevalence of ranching on the Western Slope, Gunnison sage-grouse also have to coexist with cattle and other livestock. The BLM leases land to permittees on 60 grazing allotments in sage-grouse habitat. But extensive cattle grazing can reduce the amount of grass and shrubs the birds eat and use to hide from predators.
Under the new plan, grazing management plans will be adapted for each individual allotment and can include drought mitigation and grazing rotations designed to keep sage-grouse habitat healthy, even with the presence of livestock. Ranchers have also been asked to ensure vegetation heights provide adequate cover for sage-grouse during the nesting period.
But some of the new requirements are difficult to enforce, Brodhead said. For example, the plan encourages permittees to minimize vehicle use during breeding hours. Rangeland staff would only know if ranchers were following the rules if they were present on the property in the early-morning hours.
Grazing management is another point of criticism for Molvar, who is backed by WildEarth Guardians and the Center for Biological Diversity. These “non-binding” management practices are insufficient, he said.
“In most of the places where the declines are happening, there aren't any industrial or residential developments around to blame it on,” Molvar said. “The only human-caused impact that is changing things from natural conditions is livestock grazing. That makes livestock the most widespread human impact on the Gunnison sage-grouse.”
(Bella Biondini can be contacted at 970.641.1414 or bella@gunnisontimes.com.)
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here