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Governor's Revised Sage Grouse Plan Released

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After months of public debate, Governor Mead released a revision of his so-called sage grouse executive order. The plan is required to undergo review every five years.

Brian Rutledge is Vice President of the National Audubon Society and served on the governor’s sage grouse team. He says he’s happy with how many of the team’s recommendations the Governor incorporated in the revision.

“Not all of the additional land that we suggested was enrolled,” he says. “But as far as the policy objectives and the protections, they’re all there, including the commitment to improve the knowledge around things like sound disturbance to the birds and what to do with winter concentration areas.”

Rutledge says the revised plan also expands protected range for sage grouse in southern Wyoming and protects the bird from drilling noise and road use during the winter.

The Governor’s revised plan comes just ahead of a decision by the federal government this September about whether to list the bird as an endangered species. His revisions follow months of public debate over whether the science used in the original plan to protect the bird from extinction was strong enough. Wildlife biologist Erik Molvar with WildEarth Guardians says he doesn't think so.

 “Overall, the Governor’s new executive order is more of the same,” Molvar says. “It pretty much goes along the same path as the old executive order, incorporating all the major flaws and science-based deficiencies that the old order had.”

Molvar says he’s glad to see that the bird received more habitat protections in the Red Desert and around southern Wyoming. But he says the Governor should have expanded the bird's range in the Powder River Basin where the chance for the grouse’s extinction is 98 percent in the next 30 years. 

Melodie Edwards is the host and producer of WPM's award-winning podcast The Modern West. Her Ghost Town(ing) series looks at rural despair and resilience through the lens of her hometown of Walden, Colorado. She has been a radio reporter at WPM since 2013, covering topics from wildlife to Native American issues to agriculture.
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