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Sage grouse concerns drive protests of Wyo. lease sale

Nine environmental groups have filed formal protests against the Bureau of Land Management's Feb. 5 energy lease sale in Wyoming, saying the auction includes tens of thousands of acres of irreplaceable habitat for sage grouse and other wildlife species. he sage grouse has become something of an icon in the West's sagebrush ecosystems in the battle over energy development, in much the same way that the northern spotted owl was at the center of debates surrounding logging in the Pacific Northwest in the 1990s.

In December, a federal judge ordered the Fish and Wildlife Service to reconsider its 2005 decision not to add the sage grouse to the Endangered Species List, saying the agency ignored expert advice. Judge B. Lynn Winmill of the U.S. District Court in Idaho also criticized "inexcusable conduct" by Julie MacDonald, a former Interior assistant secretary who came under fire last year for interfering in endangered species listing decisions (Greenwire, Dec. 5, 2007).

Environmental groups argue that the Bureau of Land Management should not take any action that could harm the sage grouse in light of this recent decision.

"Considering the sage grouse is up for review for listing, we don't think this is a risk that needs to be taken," said Dwayne Meadows, a field representative for the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership who lives in Laramie, Wyo. Although TRCP is not advocating listing of the species, Meadows said BLM should delay leasing until the Fish and Wildlife Service makes a decision regarding the listing.

TRCP is protesting 125 parcels on about 150,000 acres, saying that energy development would harm sage grouse habitat, as well as winter range and migration corridors for mule deer, elk and pronghorn.

The Feb. 5 auction is scheduled to include 143 parcels totaling more than 165,300 acres. BLM spokesman Roger Alexander said that as of the Jan. 22 protest deadline, the agency had received 6 protests from nine different groups -- Audubon Wyoming, Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, the Center for Native Ecosystems, Clark Resource Council, Greater Yellowstone Coalition, TRCP, Wyoming Outdoor Council, Wyoming Wilderness Association, and Wyoming Wildlife Federation.

"All of the protests were wildlife-related. Sage grouse was a common thread in all of them," Alexander said.

Protecting sage grouse habitat

Brian Rutledge, executive director of Audubon Wyoming, said the leases offered in the Feb. 5 sale will affect more than 200 sage grouse leks, the bird's breeding areas. Audubon's protest centers on 20 leases that the group determined were in the most critical core areas for sage grouse, he said.

"What we're trying to do more than anything is maintain flexibility in planning for the species, which is already severely limited by the leasing that's already taken place," Rutledge said. Rutledge noted that once BLM has sold leases in these core areas, which are almost certain to be critical to the bird's survival, it will be much more difficult, if not impossible, for federal agencies to protect the bird's habitat in those areas.

"One of the only mechanisms of avoiding the need for listing will be for the state and BLM to determine that they'll show the discipline necessary to maintain the population and not drive it to levels that necessitate ESA listing," Rutledge said. "Industry and BLM for the most part will determine whether this animal is forced to that position."

He added, "These leases should be eliminated from sale until we have a management plan for the species that assures its future."

Megan Corrigan, a staff biologist with the Center for Native Ecosystems, which protested 79 parcels totaling about 86,000 acres, said the stipulations attached to drilling in sage grouse habitat are not protective enough, noting that recent research has shown the buffers around leks are ineffective.

"It seems to us that there's increasing evidence that the greater sage grouse warrants listing, and we're already really concerned that BLM is continuing to lease important habitat," she said.

The sage grouse has also been at the center of other recent protests in Wyoming. In November, 88 protests were filed challenging energy leases proposed in southeastern Wyoming's North Platte Valley, resulting in a public outcry that ran all the way up to the governor's office. In response, BLM decided to withdraw the leases, totaling approximately 28,500 acres, from auction.

Meadows said BLM officials have told him those parcels could be on the auction block again as soon as April.

Concerns with wilderness areas

In addition to concerns about sage grouse, wilderness concerns also are prevalent in some of the protests. The Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, Center for Native Ecosystems, Wyoming Outdoor Council and Wyoming Wilderness Association joined a protest filed Jan. 21 that takes aim at parcels offered in or adjacent to wilderness study areas and areas that have been proposed for wilderness protection, including Red Butte, Honeycombs, Cedar Mountain, Kinney Rim, Adobe Town and Raymond Mountain.

The protest notes in particular that "the landscapes of Adobe Town rival the most spectacular landscapes of America's current desert parks," with some of the "most intricate and outstanding badlands topography in the United States." Adobe Town also has outstanding archaeological values, with an "unusually high density" of prehistoric sites, according to the protest.

Suzanne Lewis of the Biodiversity Conservation Alliance noted that Adobe Town also earned special recognition last fall by the Wyoming Environmental Quality Council as "very rare and uncommon," a designation that protects the area from non-coal surface mining.

"It's disheartening to us that just after the state made this designation, the BLM turns around and offers 18 different parcels for sale in those areas," Lewis said. "What we had hoped in getting the state to designate these areas is that BLM would understand these were important areas to the people of the state and we want to see rare and unique areas protected. We'd hoped BLM would hear that message, but apparently they're ignoring it."

A separate protest filed by the Wyoming Outdoor Council, Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, Clark Resource Council and Greater Yellowstone Coalition focused on 13 parcels in two different areas of Wyoming environmentalists also consider worthy of protection -- one near Cody in the northwestern part of the state in the foothills of Yellowstone National Park and another in the far southwestern reaches of the state near Kemmerer. Bruce Pendery of the Wyoming Outdoor Council said these areas were chosen because of their outstanding environmental values.

"As it is, huge swaths of Wyoming are already leased, so waiting on proceeding with these parcels wouldn't harm any oil and gas development potential, but it would help ensure some environmental protections," he said.

Deb Thomas, an organizer for the Powder River Basin Resource Council and Clark Resource Council, noted that some of the leases are also in areas close to homes. Thomas, who resides in Clark, said residents have become more skeptical of energy development in light of a 2006 gas blowout that has severely affected groundwater in the area.

"We're a little gun shy about what happens when oil and gas development is close to where people live," she said.

Click here to read the Center for Native Ecosystems protest.

Click here to view the Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, Center for Native Ecosystems, Wyoming Outdoor Council and Wyoming Wilderness Association.

Click here to read the Wyoming Outdoor Council, Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, Clark Resource Council and Greater Yellowstone Coalition protest.

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