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CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Wyoming's congressional delegation is supporting a legislative effort to block federal protection of the greater sage grouse.
U.S. Sens. Mike Enzi and John Barrasso are co-sponsoring a bill by Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado that would retain state oversight of the species for six years — regardless of an upcoming decision on whether the birds warrant protection under the Endangered Species Act.
"The last thing states need are more one-size-fits-all regulations from Washington that won't help species and will devastate local economies," Barrasso said.
Wyoming Rep. Cynthia Lummis is co-sponsoring a similar bill in the House by another Republican, Rep. Chris Stewart of Utah.
Seth Waggener, a spokesman for Gov. Matt Mead, indicated the governor had not taken a position on the bills. The governor has previously said he opposes listing the birds under the Endangered Species Act.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service faces a Sept. 30 court-ordered deadline to decide whether the ground-dwelling birds inhabiting 11 states from California to the Dakotas need protection as a threatened or endangered species.
"This bill allows states to take into account the distinct management needs within the states' own border," Enzi said Monday about Gardner's Sage Grouse Protection and Conservation Act.
Another recent move by Congress accomplishes nearly the same thing though for less time. The Senate late last year passed a budget rider that will keep the greater sage grouse under state oversight by withholding funding from Fish and Wildlife to implement a threatened or endangered listing for the birds.
Wyoming arguably has more at stake with sage grouse than any other state. It has the biggest sage grouse population and is a top producer of coal, oil and natural gas — much of it from federal lands where federal protection of sage grouse would bring strict restrictions on development.
Mead, however, passed on an opportunity Monday to either endorse or criticize the congressional sage grouse measures. Asked about the two bills currently pending, spokesman Waggener said the governor believes the greater sage grouse doesn't need to be listed.
"There are many views about the right way to establish certainty in regards to greater sage grouse. This bill and the rider to the defense bill are two such views. Wyoming has an effective plan and that plan is in place now," Waggener said by email.
Other states and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management have praised and substantially adopted an approach to sage grouse conservation developed by Wyoming. Under the state's strategy, areas designated as core sage grouse habitat carry certain restrictions on development.
Last week, Fish and Wildlife endorsed cooperative efforts to conserve sage grouse habitat in announcing that a genetically distinct population of greater sage grouse on the California-Nevada line didn't need federal protection.
Even so, environmental groups and Interior Secretary Sally Jewell are critical of efforts to keep sage grouse under state control through legislation.
"The time to address the threats to sage brush habitat is now. Not in five or 10 years, when the West is more fragmented, fire-prone and has lost more productive rangeland to invasive species," Jewell wrote in a newspaper opinion piece Tuesday.
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