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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Conservationists Say Colorado's Protection of Sage Grouse Doesn't Fly

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Thursday, August 21, 2014   

WALDEN, Colo. - The current level of protection for one of Colorado's native birds is ruffling the feathers of conservationists.

Next year the federal government is expected to decide whether to list the greater sage grouse under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Several Colorado groups are working to prevent the ESA listing and preserve the habitat.

Bill Midcap with the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union says it's important Colorado joins neighboring states in creating a plan to protect the bird before the Fish and Wildlife Service makes a decision on the listing.

"The listing of this bird would negatively impact Colorado farms and ranches," says Midcap. "Delaying the decisions to find solutions for the grouse makes it more likely the bird will be listed."

Midcap and others are concerned the state has so far only put forward voluntary measures to protect the sage grouse, and notes many of those measures were already were in place to begin with. The federal Fish and Wildlife Service recently sent a letter to the Colorado Department of Natural Resources criticizing its approach, and recommending ways it can better protect the bird.

Meanwhile, the Western Energy Alliance, an oil and gas trade advocacy group, is buying ad time claiming an ESA listing for the grouse will cost jobs. Midcap has signed on to a letter asking the Western Energy Alliance to sit down at the table with ag, conservation, landowner and sportsmen groups to come up with ways to ensure the sage grouse thrives.

"As Westerners, we know how to compromise, and we know how to hammer out innovative solutions to tough problems," says Midcap. "We can do a lot better."

Barbara Vasquez of Jackson County is a member of the Northwest Advisory Council to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). She says with 42 percent of sage grouse habitat falling in BLM territory, it's up to the agency to help shape balanced policies.

"People live in this part of the country because they value the open landscape, the western lifestyle and all the wildlife that this habitat supports," she says.

Sage grouse habitat is primarily found in northwest Colorado, near Craig.


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