In 2023, wolverines won federal protections, gray wolves were reintroduced in Colorado and the Bureau of Land Management announced a draft-management plan for critical Gunnison sage grouse habitat, all species protected under a statute passed by Congress 50 years ago.

Vera Smith, senior federal lands policy analyst for Defenders of Wildlife, said while the primary goal is to avoid Endangered Species Act listings altogether, when scientists do see species in decline, the act is critical for ensuring they get the protections they need to survive and thrive in the future.

"The act is really good at incentivizing that," Smith pointed out. "When species are getting closer to extinction, the act steps in and offers that critical protection and directs resources where they need to go."

Since the 1900s, the Gunnison sage grouse has lost 90% of its sagebrush-sea habitat to human development. Smith said the number of birds known for their iconic mating dance has dropped to just 4,000. The BLM manages 42% of the bird's remaining habitat, and is accepting public comments on its proposal through Feb. 7.

After 20 years of work by conservationists, in November the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agreed to list wolverines as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Fur trapping and poisoning brought the animal to the brink of extinction, and just 300 remain in the lower 48.

Andrea Zaccardi, carnivore conservation program legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said climate change and human disturbance are the two main threats.

"Wolverines need high elevation, large snowpack levels for their denning habitat," Zaccardi explained. "Climate change obviously is reducing the availability of the heavy snowpack in high elevations that wolverines need."

Ryan Sedgeley, southern Rockies field representative for the Endangered Species Coalition, credited the Endangered Species Act for helping gray wolves rebound from near-total extinction in parts of the Northern Rockies and other states. After Colorado voters approved their reintroduction in 2020, 10 wolves were released this December.

"Wolves haven't been in Colorado since the 1940s when they were systematically eradicated," Sedgeley noted. "Restoring the balance to nature, to our ecosystems, is really important."

The federal Bureau of Land Management has published a new plan for managing public lands which will put oil and gas management in sync with Colorado's big-game conservation policies.

Suzanne O'Neill, executive director of the Colorado Wildlife Federation, said the proposed final plan, which will impact BLM-managed lands in all 64 Colorado counties, is an important move to protect Colorado's iconic wildlife.

"It will help safeguard mule deer, elk, pronghorn and bighorn sheep habitats," O'Neill outlined. "These populations inhabit almost three quarters of the 8.3 million surface acres that the BLM manages."

The plan would amend management plans for 12 BLM field offices in Colorado by limiting active oil and gas sites to one per square mile in big-game high priority habitat. It also requires operators to minimize and offset direct, indirect and cumulative adverse impacts on wildlife. The BLM's proposed final Western Solar Plan revision is expected to be published this summer.

John Howard, former chairman of the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission during the Hickenlooper administration, believes the plan will give energy developers more certainty and should also cut the red tape found when dealing with multiple regulatory environments, which are not always on the same page.

"I think most of them are going to react very positively to having something that aligns so well between the federal government, the state government and local government," Howard projected.

The BLM is charged with managing lands owned by all Americans for multiple uses, including hunting, fishing, camping, rafting and hiking. O'Neill pointed to a 2020 report showing work is also needed to ensure trails and other recreation areas do not harm wildlife.

"They need to be appropriately sited, so they don't disturb wildlife that are birthing in the spring, or trying to migrate," O'Neill urged. "They need to be located in the right places."

Support for this reporting was provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts.


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Virginia's Marine Resources Commission is ending the winter blue crab harvest prohibition.

Crabbing is permitted from March to the middle of December. Extending the harvesting season targets adult female crabs which can harm this species' future. Environmental groups argued the Blue Crab Stock Assessment Committee's research does not support increasing the harvest.

Chris Moore, Virginia executive director for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, said recent winter dredge survey results showed it is an ill-timed decision.

"For the last 8 or 9 years or so, we had actually seen higher numbers of adult females every year going back to 2016 except for 2022," Moore outlined. "That was the year where we actually saw the lowest number of crabs total in that winter dredge survey."

The most recent winter dredge survey showed a continued decline of about 20 million blue crabs in Chesapeake Bay. Moore noted the committee's decision is preliminary and depends on several previous determinations, ranging from the season's duration, number of participants, allowable catch and harvest location. A final decision is set for September.

Reopening the winter harvest will not endanger or eliminate blue crabs from Virginia waterways due to thresholds for the population. Moore thinks the committee should wait for a stock assessment with Maryland and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to be completed. Since the last one was done in 2011, he argued more is known about blue crabs.

"We continue to learn more about the population dynamics of the blue crab," Moore emphasized. "We continue to learn more about some of the predators of the blue crab, like catfish, and so we really need to be thinking about what is the state of the resource now when it comes to managing the species."

Moore added the stock assessment's results can better determine how to manage blue crab populations. Studies show around a quarter of the female blue crab population was removed from Chesapeake Bay by fishing in 2023, below both the threshold to pause the harvest and the target for sustainable blue crab fishing.


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The Bureau of Land Management says it will start a wild horse roundup in Wyoming's White Mountain area, but wildlife advocates say the plan exceeds the agency's authority.

The BLM aims to gather nearly 600 wild horses starting August 15, in an area northwest of Rock Springs - to prevent what it calls 'further deterioration' of the land health due to impacts from the animals.

The group Wild American Horse Conservation says the agency used incorrect data to reach that number, improperly including foal counts.

Suzanne Roy, executive director of the group, said bad numbers are a problem for the local eco-tourism business the horses support, through a Wild Horse Scenic Loop drive.

"We're very concerned that the BLM is playing with numbers to remove more horses than they're legally allowed to," said Roy. "And if they are allowed to proceed, it will reduce the herd to such a low number, you'll never be able to view the horses."

Roundups involve gathering horses into holding pens until they're adopted.

But Roy said there are more horses being held than the adoption market can absorb, and that difference costs taxpayers about $70 million a year.

Roundups are an alternate population control method to sterilization. But Roy said her group advocates instead for fertility control.

"Basically, it's called immunocontraception," said Roy, "and it's a vaccine that creates an immune response in the animals and it prevents fertilization."

Roy said this method is also reversible, which is important in case of unexpected population die-offs.

The BLM is a multiple-use agency charged with balancing numerous interests - including those of the public, grazing rights and multiple wildlife species.

James "Micky" Fisher - lead public affairs specialist with the BLM Wyoming field office - said the agency isn't opposed to fertility treatments, but they're more difficult to implement.

"Unfortunately, with herd management areas of this size and even larger ones," said Fisher, "the sheer number of horses that we're required to gather to get down to the appropriate management level, fertility treatments and darting practices, they're just - they're insufficient."

A larger roundup is currently underway across four Herd Management Areas in central Wyoming.

Fisher said the BLM started the roundup on July 1, to gather over 2,700 animals.




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