JACKSON - Ranchers and the energy industry scored a cautious victory Friday, as U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists said federal protection is not warranted for the sage grouse.

Without such a listing, ranchers and the oil and gas industry won't have to wrestle with extensive oversights on lands they operate. Instead, management of the bird in Wyoming will remain in the hands of the state Game and Fish Department.

The recommendation still has to be sanctioned by Fish and Wildlife Service Director Steve Williams within 25 days. He said Friday he has not read the recommendation and couldn't speculate on what his decision might be. But, Williams said, it is rare that his decision would go against his biologists' recommendation.

Tom Christiansen, sage grouse coordinator with the Game and Fish Department, said the recommendation against listing the bird is not a surprise, and he called the move "good news."

"I would have been surprised by any other decision," he said. "We don't believe that they are at a point where they warrant listing, especially here in Wyoming. We are the cornerstone for sage grouse. We have the best habitat for sage grouse."

But Christiansen said there are long-term concerns with the population. In Wyoming, and more so in other Western states, sagebrush habitat is declining due to subdivision and energy development, grazing pressures, invasion of other species such as cheatgrass, and fires.

Dru Bower with the Petroleum Association of Wyoming said that group encourages Williams to accept the recommendation.

"… We are seeing an unprecedented level of conservation measures being implemented on public and private lands that will benefit the sage grouse," she said. "A 'not warranted' decision will encourage proactive measures by the oil and gas industry as well as other land users to protect sage grouse and prevent further consideration of a listing under the Endangered Species Act."

Bower also said energy companies have cooperated in the use of "no surface occupancy" rules for critical areas around leks - sage grouse breeding grounds. A two-mile radius around leks during nesting and breeding seasons is also followed, she said.

But Erik Molvar of the Laramie-based Biodiversity Conservation Alliance said the recommendation is an example of politics trumping science.

"What it looks like we're moving toward here is a victory of bad politics over good science," he said.

Molvar, whose group was one of 20 that petitioned the federal government last December to review the case for listing the grouse, said a consortium of scientists released a report earlier this year indicating the bird was in "real trouble," and the population will continue to decline.

"We're very disappointed but not surprised," Molvar said. "The groups that have petitioned will be looking at other kinds of recourse that we might have, which may or may not include a lawsuit."

Decision criteria

The Fish and Wildlife Service agreed in April to examine a possible listing, saying at the time there was enough evidence of the bird's decline for review.

Listing of the sage grouse would mean anyone with sage grouse habitat would have to consult with federal officials before making changes and additions to their property. Exact requirements are "hard to estimate," according to Bower and Christiansen.

The biologists reviewing the case said the grouse is not imperiled in the foreseeable future, according to Ralph Morgenweck, regional director of the Fish and Wildlife Service's mountain-prairie region.

The team determined "foreseeable future" to be 40 to 100 years.

"Over that time we felt that the species is going to be persisting extensively and that as a result it would not qualify for an endangered or a threatened listing under the Endangered Species Act," he said.

Sage grouse habitat is estimated at about 100 million to 150 million acres - about half its historic range. Bird numbers, while difficult to quantify, are estimated at 142,000 to 500,000 individuals, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service. That is down to about 8 percent of its original population.

Sage grouse numbers declined at an average of 3.5 percent each year from 1965 to 1985. In the last 20 years, the decline has stabilized to about .4 percent annually.

The bird is found in 11 Western states, including Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Montana and Idaho. It is also found in small populations in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Christiansen said Wyoming has some of the best habitat, and the core is in an arc around Pinedale to Lander and east from there into the Great Divide Basin. The bird is also found in the Big Horn Basin and the Powder and Cheyenne River basins.

The most fragmented habitat is on the fringe of that area, he said, where sagebrush turns to shortgrass prairie.

Agriculture and coalbed methane development have put pressure on the sagebrush in those areas, Christiansen said.

Hunting

Populations are so robust here, in fact, that Game and Fish offers a hunting season on the grouse.

Hunting is restricted in some areas like Jackson Hole, where drought is blamed for an estimated 73 percent drop in sage grouse numbers. It is also restricted in the extreme southwest area of the state.

Over the past four decades, sage grouse hunting seasons have varied from one week to three weeks in length and a daily bag limit of two to three birds.

The number of sage grouse hunters has varied from 5,000 to 10,000 over the past 10 years, according to agency data.

In 2003, John Emmerich with Game and Fish said assuming half of those hunters would not buy a license to hunt game birds if sage grouse seasons were closed, there would be a potential loss of $25,000 to $50,000 in revenue for the department.

The season for the Cowboy State's trademark game bird runs Sept. 23-Oct. 3.

Christiansen told the Star-Tribune earlier this year the late-September 11-day hunting season is not detrimental to the sage grouse population.

"The long-lived nature of sage grouse suggests sage grouse be hunted more conservatively than more productive game birds such as pheasants, and in recent years the sage grouse hunt has been made considerably more conservative," he said. "There is no evidence to indicate the conservative hunting seasons currently in place have caused population declines or even prevented a population recovery."

But Game and Fish has established working groups around the state to encourage private citizens to solve the declining sage grouse problem.

"Landowners and ranchers are saying, 'Hey, what can we do for sage grouse?' And these kinds of projects will be developed and promoted," Christiansen said.

Some projects include reclamation and reseeding efforts where pipelines and areas that need to be reclaimed are done so in a way that benefits the grouse.

Grouse findings

Here are some key factors in federal biologists' recommendation against giving the sage grouse protection under the Endangered Species Act:

* 50 percent of historic sage grouse habitat still in existence, often in good shape.

* Rate of habitat decline stabilizing down to .4 percent annual reduction from 3.5 percent.

* Conversion of sagebrush habitat to grazing land and to interstate highways has ceased.

* Population not being heavily affected by West Nile virus.

* Although oil and gas activities do pose a threat, Fish and Wildlife Service says it can re-evaluate the situation if the bird becomes imperiled.

What happens next?

The decision whether to list the bird rests now with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service director, who has until Dec. 29 to make a decision.

Director Steve Williams can support the biologists' recommendation that a listing is not warranted, at which point the process stops. He can also reverse the recommendation and determine a listing is warranted. Or, Williams could determine the bird should be listed but is precluded at this time by higher priorities, which would add the grouse to a candidate list for threatened and endangered species.

Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

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What they're saying

"There are unprecedented efforts under way at the state and local levels to protect the sage grouse. These efforts deserve a chance to run their course. Federal involvement would have only thrown up roadblocks to the process and in the end threatened not just the sage grouse but an untold number of jobs in Wyoming and throughout the West. There's no doubt that the grouse and its habitat are important. But the jobs that are created in Wyoming by ranching and mining are important, too."

- U.S. Rep. Barbara Cubin, R-Wyo.

"This is a good decision for Wyoming because it shows that the conservation efforts are working. We will make a clear effort to continue our conservation efforts for the sage grouse using local policies which involve state and public agencies. I will work toward an Endangered Species Act that has the conservation component as well as a way to properly delist a species, as the information from biologists shows the need. Their recommendation today is that the science does not support a listing."

- U.S. Sen. Craig Thomas, R-Wyo.

"It's important to protect the sage grouse and its habitat. It's an icon for the state, and we are taking important steps to care for the bird. At the same time oil and gas and ranching must also be protected. They are vital to the economic health of Wyoming … This announcement is good for the grouse and for the people of Wyoming."

- U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo.

"We are pleased that Department of Interior biologists have found that the sage grouse does not need extra protection. This is a step in the right direction, but our efforts will continue as we work to keep the bird from being added to the list of threatened and endangered species."

- Gov. Dave Freudenthal

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Wyoming sage grouse harvest

Year Hunters Harvest

1994 9,928 26,458

1995 6,259 13,975

1996 5,138 13,192

1997 4,969 11,551

1998 5,899 16,787

1999 7,625 21,556

2000 8,667 20,685

2001 5,593 12,742

2002 2,947 4,835

2003 2,504 5,263

* In 1995, then again in 2002, the hunting seasons were changed - moved later, shortened, lower bag limits, etc. - resulting in lower hunter participation and reduced harvest.

Source: Wyoming Game and Fish Department

Environmental reporter Whitney Royster can be reached at (307) 734-0260 or at royster@trib.com.