Sparring over the greater sage grouse—and energy development

The Gunnison bird is “not the main event”

By Adam Broderick

As U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper sparred over protection of sage grouse, the governor made a move for Colorado and its ability to self-govern last month when he told state agencies to take additional conservation measures for the greater sage grouse. That includes the Gunnison sage grouse, whose population stretches south of the Colorado River in both Colorado and Utah.
The executive order directed state agencies to take a number of actions into their own hands to reduce impacts to the greater sage grouse and its habitat, including taking inventory of, and improving habitat within, state lands with grouse populations.
States from California and Nevada all the way to Missouri have populations of greater sage grouse, and Hickenlooper said in the release that the state of Colorado firmly believes state-led efforts are the most effective way to protect and conserve the greater sage grouse and its habitat. Not, he argues, by a federal agency listing the bird as threatened or endangered.
“A decision by the federal government to list the greater sage grouse under the Endangered Species Act would have a significant and detrimental economic impact to the state, as well as threaten the very state-led partnerships that are working to protect the species,” said Hickenlooper.
On a local level, county officials believe the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) inappropriately listed the Gunnison sage grouse as a “threatened” species last year and improperly designated critical habitat for the bird, actions the state of Colorado also considers violations of the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
Both entities believe those decisions were made based on inaccurate information from inadequate studies conducted by the agency in Gunnison County. The rules set forth following the listing and critical habitat designation restricted local land use (private and public) to a level that would have significant fiscal impacts in the county, and the county has already spent considerable time and money preserving the bird’s habitats and restoring its population in the area.
So the county joined two separate lawsuits against the FWS, and is about to join a third.
Hickenlooper’s executive order regarding the greater sage grouse could help expedite recovery of the greater sage grouse population and protection of its habitat in other states. But Gunnison County commissioner Jonathan Houck doubts the order will have much bearing here in Gunnison County, where significant efforts have already been made to protect the Gunnison sage grouse in particular.
“The state and the county have spent close to $40 million on Gunnison sage grouse and after seeing how FWS ruled to not list the bi-state greater population based on millions pledged, [Hickenlooper] is getting it out there that Colorado is putting its money where its mouth/grouse is,” Houck said.
Hickenlooper believes the state’s actions to protect the bird and its habitats, in conjunction with the efforts of local governments, landowners and many others to protect the greater sage grouse, have been extensive. “With this executive order we are directing our state agencies and our partners to do even more to protect this treasured species,” the governor said in the press release.
The county is making headway in the fight for the bird via persistence and participation in lawsuits against the FWS, which is seen by many as yet another example of the county fighting federal bullies for the rights the county deserves.
County attorney David Baumgarten told the Crested Butte News it has become apparent to him that the Gunnison sage grouse is a feint for everyone, but it’s real life for us here in Gunnison County (“feint” is a boxing term for flicking your glove at your opponent and pretending to throw a punch). “The real skirmish in America today is the greater sage grouse, because it’s in 11 states,” Baumgarten explained. “If listed, [the listing] would thwart a lot of natural gas and oil development. The part of America that says we need energy independence based on natural gas, they’re all freaked out. The Obama administration is schizophrenic. [The president] wants oil and gas energy independence, and he wants a protected species at the same time. And each of the states is also freaking out, because this affects the economy of the states.
“In the preliminary sparring to get ready for the deal, each side had to show they were tough. The side that wants the bird listed, and the side that doesn’t want it listed,” Baumgarten said. He explained that secretary of the interior Sally Jewell made her stand to prove she is tough when she listed the Gunnison sage grouse as “threatened.” Then Hickenlooper came back to sue her because her actions directly affected the greater sage grouse—and to prove he is also tough and means business.
“We’re not the main event,” Baumgarten said. “As soon as they settle on the greater sage grouse, which I think they will by September, everybody will move on and we will be left with the damage from the preliminary sparring because everybody had to get tough.”
There has been some political clout involved in disputes over the bird, and they’ve had to be fought out to the very end. According to Baumgarten, the Gunnison sage grouse should have never been listed, but Gunnison County is now positioned to go to court and duke it out, all over a preliminary fight.
Fortunately, Baumgarten predicts there will be a deal struck that keeps the greater sage grouse from being listed as threatened or endangered.