New report documents sagebrush species decline. The Oregon Natural Desert Association has released a new report by the High Desert Ecological Research Institute that documents widespread declines in a suite of Sagebrush Sea species. News Release  The report, titled "Shrubsteppe Landscapes in Jeopardy: Distributions, Abundances, and the Uncertain Future of Birds and Small Mammals in the Intermountain West," confirms conservationist's fears that the sagebrush steppe ecosystem is in such poor health that it cannot sustain native species. News/Media Dr. David Dobkin of HDERI summarized the report: "based on the information presented in our report, we find no basis for optimism about the future prospects in the Intermountain West of any of the 61 species we examined.” Sagebrush Steppe Species Report (huge file!)

The sage grouse is an indicator species for the Sagebrush Sea and an umbrella species for many of the wildlife listed in the shrub-steppe report. We have sent a copy of the report to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remind agency decisionmakers that, while deciding whether to list the sage grouse under the Endangered Species Act, the purpose of the ESA is to "provide a means whereby the ecosystems upon which endangered species and threatened species depend may be conserved." Listing the sage grouse would benefit a suite of other species that live in the Sagebrush Sea.

Coalbed methane development may spread West Nile virus. The CBM extraction process requires removal of large quantities of groundwater to liberate the methane trapped underneath. The extraction process produces approximately 15,000 gallons of wastewater per day, per well, depleting underground aquifers. Because the pumped water is usually loaded with dissolved solids and sodium (and numerous other pollutants), it is often stored in surface holding ponds for indefinite periods, rather than flushed down local streams. These holding ponds (and other naturally occurring and human-made surface waters, such as agricultural irrigation and livestock waters) may serve as breeding habitat for insect vectors that transmit WNV.

The affects of WNV on sage grouse, and the potential contributions of CBM development to the spread of the disease, are not new information to BLM. Documents recently obtained from Wyoming BLM (which the agency resisted providing to requesters) indicate that BLM has known of the strong connection between WNV and CBM. One document stated that, “[i]n short, we have more mosquitos (an order of magnitude greater) in CBM than control sites and >90% of all mosquitoes regardless of capture site are Culex genus (the vector of interest).” A second document by several of the authors of the Naugle, et al. study noted that “hen survival on the CBM site (15%) was dramatically lower than that on control sites (62%), primarily due to an outbreak of West Nile Virus restricted to the CBM site." See 90-Day Finding Comments

WNV will likely continue to spread and threaten grouse across their range as there is broad overlap between known oil and gas reserves and sage grouse habitat in the Intermountain West. In Wyoming, 26,000,000 acres (66.7 percent) of the state’s remaining sage grouse habitat falls within areas of potential oil/gas development; 9,000,000 acres (28.1%) of Colorado’s sage grouse habitat falls within areas of potential oil/gas development; 3,000,000 acres (43.5%) in Utah; and 1,700,000 acres (16.2%) in Montana. See 90-Day Finding Comments

"West Nile virus: pending crisis for sage grouse." Dr. David Naugle, et al., has confirmed sage grouse advocates' worst fears that West Nile virus is killing sage grouse in Montana, Wyoming and elsewhere, and that the bird has no known immunity to the disease. According to Dr. Naugle and his coauthors, "the spread of WNv represents a significant new stressor on sage-grouse and probably other at-risk species. While managing habitat might lessen its impact on sage-grouse populations, WNv has left wildlife and public health officials scrambling to address surface water and vector control issues in western North America." West Nile virus study

Albuquerque Tribune: "Stop grousing, Norton, about protecting bird." The Albuquerque Tribune admonished Secretary of the Interior Norton for demagoging the sage grouse as the spotted owl of the desert. "The Rio Grande has its silvery minnow. The Pacific Northwest has its spotted owl. And now the Western prairie - including New Mexico - might have its sage grouse. * * * Imagine, the Bush administration might have to go against all those well-to-do special energy interests, those it has been so good at protecting, to preserve a bird in danger of going the way of the passenger pigeon and other once plentiful birds. Namely, extinction." Tribune editorial

Partnership for the West's anti- sage grouse listing strategy exposed! Conservationists have discovered and publicized a memorandum drafted by the so-called "Partnership for the West" mapping the organization's strategy to pressure responsible officials to not list sage grouse under the ESA. The memo describes various tactics to muddy the listing process, such as "unleash(ing) grass-roots opposition to a listing, thus providing some cover to the political leadership at (the Interior Department) and throughout the administration"; engaging "political leaders in the West and in Congress to lobby the administration against listing"; and "engag(ing) with USFWS regional directors (on listing). ... If they do not readily engage, back channel with DOI officials." News/Media

The Partnership for the West's must limit its anti-listing strategy to back channel political pressure and other such dubious tactics because they can't argue that the sage grouse doesn't deserve ESA protection on scientific grounds. Fortunately, the Fish and Wildlife Service is prohibited from considering political advice and alleged economic impacts when determining whether a species should be listed under the ESA. We are nonetheless concerned that agency decisionmakers will be affected by the political pressure that PW intends to level at them.

His strategy exposed, Partnership for the West executive director Jim Sims became defensive and struck back at conservationists in media reports, implying that they came about his memo via their own dubious methods. In fact, the memo was posted on the Partnership's website. That's where we got our copy.

Industry front-group forms to oppose sage grouse listing, other purposes. A new organization called "Partnership for the West" has been established in recent months with the mission to weaken the Endangered Species Act, and prevent species such as sage grouse from being listed under the ESA.

Former Bush Administration official Jim Sims is executive director of the Partnership for the West. He previously served as Director of Communications for Vice President Cheney's secret National Energy Policy Development Group, which conceived of the current national energy policy that is ravaging western public lands. (Sims is/was also executive director of the Western Business Roundtable and a member of the Board of Directors of the Center for the New West and Center for the New American Century, both conservative think tanks.)

The Partnership for the West claims to represent a broad range of interests, including energy developers, miners, loggers, ranchers, off-road vehicle users, "freedom advocates" and others, but a quick review of their membership list exposes PW as primarily an energy industry front group (which is not surprising given director Sims background). This begs the question: as energy developers are shoving ranchers and their livestock aside to develop the publicly-owned Sagebrush Sea, how does PW reconcile conflicting interests of its purported membership (energy developers versus ranchers)?