The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced today that, based on accumulated scientific data and new peer-reviewed information and analysis, the greater sage-grouse warrants the protection of the Endangered Species Act.

But listing the species now is precluded because the agency says it needs to address higher priority species first. The greater sage-grouse will be placed on the candidate list for future action, meaning the species would not receive statutory protection under the ESA and states would continue to be responsible for managing the bird.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of the Interior will expand efforts with state, local and tribal partners to map lands that are vital to the survival of the greater sage-grouse, a ground-dwelling bird that inhabits much of the West, while guiding and managing new conventional and renewable energy projects to reduce impacts on the species, according to Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar.

"The sage grouse's decline reflects the extent to which open land in the West has been developed in the last century," said Salazar. "This development has provided important benefits, but we must find common-sense ways of protecting, restoring, and reconnecting the western lands that are most important to the species' survival while responsibly developing much-needed energy resources. Voluntary conservation agreements, federal financial and technical assistance and other partnership incentives can play a key role in this effort."

Adding the species to the candidate list will allow the Fish and Wildlife Service and other agencies an opportunity to continue to work cooperatively with private landowners to conserve the candidate species. This includes financial and technical assistance, and the ability to develop conservation agreements that provide regulatory assurances to landowners who take actions to benefit the species. One such agreement was signed last month in western Idaho, encompassing an area of over half a million acres.

"There is much we can accomplish for sage-grouse working with private landowners who care about the future of this iconic western species," said Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Fish and Wildlife and Parks Tom Strickland. "Voluntary conservation efforts on private lands, when combined with successful state and federal strategies, hold the key to the long-term survival of the greater sage-grouse."

Bureau of Land Management Director Bob Abbey, whose agency manages more greater sage-grouse habitat than any other government agency, said that the BLM will today issue guidance that will expand the use of new science and mapping technologies to improve land-use planning and develop additional measures to conserve sage-grouse habitat while ensuring that energy production, recreational access and other uses of federal lands continue as appropriate.

The BLM guidance also addresses a related species, the Gunnison sage-grouse, which has a more limited range, and which is in the process of being evaluated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to determine whether it also warrants protection under the Endangered Species Act.

"Managing for sensitive and candidate species is nothing new to the BLM," Abbey. "Using sound science and effective on-the-ground coordination with our many partners, we will build on current accomplishments in managing for sustainable sage-grouse populations on our National System of Public Lands."

The guidance, which supplements the BLM's 2004 National Sage-Grouse Conservation Strategy, identifies management actions necessary at some sites to ensure the environmentally responsible exploration, authorization, leasing and development of energy resources in the priority habitat of greater sage-grouse.

Under the guidance, the BLM will continue to coordinate with state fish and wildlife agencies and their Sage and Columbian Sharp-tailed Grouse Technical Committee in the development of a range-wide key habitat map. This mapping project, which is not intended to replace individual state fish and wildlife agency core habitat maps, will identify priority habitat for sage-grouse within each of the western states and reflect this across the known range of sage-grouse.

The nation’s leading bird conservation organization, the American Bird Conservationy, called the USFWS decision disappointing, but expressed hope.

"FWS got the science right but passed on the opportunity to fully protect this bird today," said ABC President George Fenwick. "We are hopeful that FWS will now use this decision to bring all parties and agencies together to create effective management decisions that will balance development needs while halting sage-grouse population declines."

"Getting any species off the Candidate List and onto the Endangered Species List is a considerable challenge. FWS needs to find a way to bring people together and reach agreements that protect this bird in the face of the huge development plans that are underway and will impact its prime habitat," Fenwick said. "We need to protect a magnificent species that is in trouble, and to allow thoughtful planning for proposed energy development to get it right from the start."

In addition, the Service announced today that the best scientific information, including new genetic analysis, does not support recognition of a western subspecies of the greater sage-grouse. Therefore, listing a western subspecies is not warranted, as it is not a valid taxonomic entity eligible for listing under the Endangered Species Act.

A western subspecies of the greater sage-grouse was described in the 1940s based on comparisons of a small number of specimens, and many scientists subsequently questioned the validity of this subspecies designation. The Service has since conducted a thorough evaluation of the best scientific information available, including physical characteristics, behavior, geography and new genetic analysis, and found no evidence to support recognition of either subspecies.

The Service was petitioned by the Institute for Wildlife Protection seeking ESA protection for the western sage grouse, which occurs in northern California, eastern Oregon, eastern Washington and possibly parts of Idaho.

The Service concluded in 2003 that the western sage grouse is neither a distinct population segment nor a valid subspecies of the greater sage grouse, and therefore was not eligible for protection under the ESA. The Service’s decision was sent back to the agency by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for further consideration of whether the western sage grouse may be a subspecies. The court upheld the Service’s determination that the western sage grouse is not a distinct population segment of the greater sage grouse.

Greater sage-grouse are found in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, eastern California, Nevada, Utah, western Colorado, South Dakota and Wyoming and the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. They currently occupy approximately 56 percent of their historical range.

If trends since the mid-1960s persist, many local populations may disappear within the next 30 to 100 years, with remaining fragmented populations more vulnerable to extinction in the long-term. However, the sage-grouse population as a whole remains large enough and is distributed across such a large portion of the western United States that Fish and Wildlife Service biologists determined the needs of other species facing more immediate and severe threat of extinction must take priority for listing actions.

The USFWS will review the status of the species annually, as it does with all candidate species, and will propose the species for protection when funding and workload priorities for other listing actions allow. Should the status of the greater sage-grouse sufficiently improve as a result of the efforts to be undertaken, the Service could determine that the protection of the Endangered Species Act is not needed.

The greater sage-grouse was judged a lower priority than other species because the population as a whole remains large enough and is distributed across such a large portion of the western United States that the immediate threat of extinction is low, the USFWS says. Other species facing more immediate and severe threat of extinction head the priority list for preparing listing proposals.

Currently, 249 species are candidates for listing, and due to pending petitions to list several hundred additional species, that number may increase by fiscal year 2011 the USFWS says. Despite the potential increase, the agency anticipates that the number of candidates in FY 2010 will decrease to approximately 186. This decrease is anticipated as the Listing Program completes proposed rules to list species or determinations that listing is not warranted in FY 2010.