The fight over the Sage Grouse listing may be bigger than the Spotted Owl battles

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http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2011261095_sagegrouse05m.html

More than any native species since the spotted owl, the sage grouse sparks direct conflict with the West's industries, from livestock grazing and oil and gas development to the construction of wind turbines and power lines. Only this bird is disappearing from 11 Western states, and is already gone from several more, a victim of human encroachment on its turf.

"It is a really, really big decision," said Chris Warren, a biologist in Spokane with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Once so common on high-desert grasslands that explorers snapped bullwhips at their feathers as the birds skittered under their horses, sage grouse have declined to about a half-million in the West. In Eastern Washington they've been reduced by farming, development and wildfires to two tiny isolated camps — 650 birds here in Douglas County and a few hundred others on the Army's Yakima Training Center to the south. Biologists are also transplanting birds in Lincoln County. But even in Washington, the creatures' impact extends far beyond what their numbers might suggest.

Just last week Schroeder met with people from Pacific Power in Portland and shared concerns that proposed transmission lines through the Yakima Training Center could drive away birds. And the Douglas County Public Utility District recently scaled back and relocated plans for a 14,000-acre, 160-megawatt wind farm. The new proposal calls for turbines that would produce no more than 60 megawatts.

"No one wants to see them go extinct," said PUD spokeswoman Meaghan Vibbert. Besides, "it's not clear the other location would have been approved" because of the birds.

And that's in the state with the smallest sage-grouse population, where public-land grazing and mineral development are a fraction of what they are in Montana, Wyoming, Nevada and southern Oregon. Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal, a Democrat, has been worried for several years about a mega-clash between conservationists and resource industries over the birds. His state 18 months ago set aside core areas for the birds and tries to steer oil and gas development to other places in hopes that would avoid an endangered listing. But the federal Bureau of Land Management over the years has allowed many exceptions to its own wildlife protections, allowing drilling to proceed even where it harms grouse.

"We think we're doing all that we can," said Ryan Lance, deputy chief of staff for Wyoming's governor. "A decision outright to list the species would be very problematic for us."

No one expects the federal government to decide to protect the bird rangewide, but there's no telling how much — or how little — protection they'll recommend. "And there is absolutely every indication and every assurance that there will be litigation either way," Lance said. Some environmentalists see the sage grouse as a way to achieve their long-standing goal of driving cows and sheep off public lands. And if the administration recommends widespread protections, industry groups have promised to appeal to Congress to intervene.