Across Wyoming's sagebrush country, greater sage grouse hens are busy fattening up their chicks before winter sets in. At the same time, the Trump administration is moving to finalize plans for how the bird is managed in Wyoming and across the West.
Out on the range this time of year, sage grouse are on the hunt for food.
"They've taken their brood mainly to the areas along water, they're in hay fields and that sort of thing where it's cooler and where there's more food," said Bob Budd, executive director of the Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust and former chairman of the Wyoming Sage Grouse Implementation Team. "Right now they're just trying to get pounds put on those chicks, and it's late fruiting habitat that they're after, which would be your small streams, ponds, you know, areas with springs, areas where food is more abundant."
As these iconic birds prepare for the harsh months ahead, the Trump administration is rolling out its plan for greater sage grouse management on Bureau of Land Management lands across Wyoming and seven other western states, triggering a 30-day comment period on what’s called a Resource Management Plan Amendment (RMPA).
The comment period begins Sept. 3 and runs through early October.
The plan is drawing praise from state leaders, along with the oil and gas industry, while evoking concern from some working to protect the species.
Years In The Making
Budd said the plan now up for public comment has been a long time coming.
"We've been working on it for, good lord, probably three years. And it's finally got to cross the finish line," he said. "It's just the consummation of the long process to address things in the 2015 plans that needed to be corrected or updated."
The new management approach updates maps and refines the exact locations of critical habitat based on where birds actually are on the landscape.
"Every few years we analyze the core area maps that we have, and they need adjustments," Budd explained. "There are areas that we find birds that we didn't know were there, that need to be considered to be in the core. We have areas where birds really are not prevalent in that region. And those need to come out."
The plan also recognizes technological advances in oil and gas extraction that leave smaller footprints on sage grouse habitat.
"Horizontal drilling and directional drilling have allowed for different methods to access oil and gas under the surface," Budd said. "That is something that we needed to recognize in the rules, in the plan."
Even with these updates, strict protections remain in place during the breeding season. Industry is prevented from building on leks – the birds' traditional mating grounds — and subject to timing restrictions when birds are breeding and nesting.
"We don't allow them to put a pad on a breeding lek. We don't allow a road to go through a breeding lek," Budd said. Companies must co-locate development facilities to avoid disturbing habitat, and "timing stipulations for when the birds are breeding and nesting" mean "there's no activity allowed" during critical periods.
Push Back
But not everyone agrees the plan strikes the right balance.
"The Trump administration is obliterating the only thing standing between the greater sage grouse and extinction," said Randi Spivak, public lands policy director at the Center for Biological Diversity. "Trump's cronies in the mining and fossil fuel industries have been licking their chops over stripping away these protections ever since the election."
The Center for Biological Diversity issued a press release with the headline "Trump Nukes protections for greater sage grouse," arguing that the plan strips away protections on about 50 million acres of public lands across the West.
"Trump is going to strip out what even insufficient protections sage grouse have," Spivak told Cowboy State Daily. "Wyoming has had the weakest lek buffer protection. In other words, you can drill within 0.6 miles of a lek... There is no scientific evidence whatsoever" supporting such close drilling to critical breeding areas.
Budd dismissed these criticisms as unfounded.
"That kind of a statement is ludicrous," he said, referring to claims that the Trump administration is dismantling sage grouse protections. "90% of this was done under the Biden administration and it didn't get done before the administration changed. It was a high priority for the state and all the states to get it done."
He emphasized that Wyoming has committed significant landscape to sage grouse conservation.
"A quarter of Wyoming's landscape is in core areas that are managed to protect sage grouse," Budd said. "I'd say that's a pretty strong commitment to the species. The vast majority of habitat that is occupied by the birds is in core areas."
Industry Perspective
Meanwhile, Wyoming's oil and gas industry is supportive of the administration's regulatory review process. The Petroleum Association of Wyoming sent a letter to Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum stating: "Given the outsized influence by the federal government on Wyoming's economy, we appreciate the administration's careful review of burdensome regulations."
Ryan McConnaughey, PAW’s vice president and director of communications, told Cowboy State Daily, “While we are still reviewing the proposed changes to the Sage Grouse RMPA, and will provide the BLM with substantive comments, there are a few key items that I can point to as being beneficial for Wyoming and operators in the state.”
McConnaughey said Wyoming has a long history of cooperation in the management of sage grouse.
“We support all changes to the RMPA that recognize Wyoming’s efforts and bring federal plans into consistency with state plans,” he said. “Adopting the Wyoming Executive Order Adaptive Management Plan will create more certainty for Wyoming operators on federal lands that was missing under the BLM’s previous Adaptive Management plan.”
The Wyoming Executive Order on Adaptive Management refers to a governance approach where management strategies are tested and adjusted based on monitoring and learning over time.
Additionally, said McConnaughey, PAW appreciates the elimination of the “Priority Habitat with Limited Exceptions” habitat designation as it was not vetted in the draft RMP and was not consistent with Wyoming’s EO.
Gov. Mark Gordon’s office stated it was pleased with the announcement and was working Tuesday with partner agencies, including Wyoming Game and Fish, on a formal response.
The governor's office stated the move does not turn over more management to the states, as Wyoming has always had authority to manage sage grouse populations within its borders.
It also noted the amendment reverses the Biden policies the state of Wyoming opposed, characterizing the rules as an attempt to encroach on states' rights to manage wildlife.
According to recently published documents from the Bureau of Land Management, the changes include updated adaptive management language to better align with state policies, elimination of certain restrictive habitat designations, and modifications to habitat management area boundaries.
The BLM's Federal Register notice indicates that written comments will be accepted through the agency's ePlanning website until the comment period closes. After reviewing public input, the agency will issue final Records of Decision for approved management plans in Idaho, Montana/Dakotas, Nevada/California, Utah, and Wyoming.
David Madison can be reached at david@cowboystatedaily.com.
