SageGrouse Ecology and Western Conservation Issues

1
Sage-Grouse Ecology and Western Conservation
Issues

• Kate Ennenga

2

• Largest members of the North American grouse
  family
• Grayish-brown bird with a dark belly, and long
  and pointed tail feathers
• Sagebrush obligateused for nesting, cover, and
  diet (especially important in winter)
• Two Distinct Species
• Greater Sage-Grouse (widely distributed in the
  West)
• Gunnison Sage-Grouse (distributed in Utah and
  Colorado)

3
Breeding and Nesting Ecology

• Leks (April-May)
• Males gather on communal breeding area
• Dominant hierarchy
• Strutting and posturing behaviors
• Only a few select males will actually mate with a
  female

4
Breeding and Nesting Ecology

• Nesting
• Dense, taller sagebrush to increase nest cover
  and safety
• 20-30 canopy cover is ideal
• Use cryptic coloration
• Six to ten eggs, 25 days of incubation
• Low (40-50) nesting success is offset by high
  survival rates and a long life span.

5
History and Status

• Sage-grouse once inhabited sage-brush rangelands
  in 16 states and three Canadian Provinces
• Currentlypopulations exist in 10 states and one
  province
• Distribution of sage-grouse has declined 44
  since European settlement
• Greater Sage-Grouse distribution declined 41.4
• Gunnison Sage-Grouse distribution declined 30.7
  
• 3.5 annual decline due to loss, fragmentation,
  and degradation of the sagebrush ecosystem

6
History and Status

• Early decline (1890-1930)
• excessive harvest, overgrazing by livestock,
  agricultural development, and drought
• Late 1940s and early 1950s
• Populations started to recoverreceived
  protection from hunting, range improvement, and
  range reversion
• Recent Declines
• Populations are again being decimated
• Various conservation groups petitioned the
  U.S.F.W.S to list the Gunnison Sage-Grouse and
  the Greater Sage-Grouse under the ESA
• Both species have been declined because so much
  land needed

7
History and Status

• Currently occupied habitat of sage-grouse in Utah
  covers primarily BLM administered and private
  lands
• Private lands 40.5
• BLM 34.4
• USFS 9.7
• Utah State owned land (SITLA UDWR) 9.5
• Ute Tribal land 5.2
• National Park Service and military reserves lt2
• Sage-grouse habitat quality and quantity decline
  has perpetuated a decline in sage-grouse numbers

8
Conservation Issues

• Large fragments of sage-grouse habitat have been
  lost throughout Utah and the western United
  States due to a variety of factors which include
• Invasive species
• Fire regimes
• Energy development and urbanization
• Herbicide treatment
• Overgrazing
• Predator community alteration
• West Nile Virus
• GoalProtect, enhance, and conserve sage-grouse
  populations and sagebrush-steppe ecosystems

9
Conservation Issues

• Invasive Species
• Exotic Cheatgrass
• Replaced native perenial bunchgrass
• Altered historic fire regimes
• Led to loss of large expanses of sagebrush
• Juniper Expansion
• Replaced sagebrush habitat

10
Conservation Issues

• Strategies???
• Fire
• Suppress firemore shrubby community overly
  dense, decadent sagebrush of little value
• Increase firemore cheatgrass, less sagebrush
• Lek trendslek counts decrease after fire
• Fire regimes based on existing vegetation
• Burned and unburned patches

11
Conservation IssuesEnergy Development and
Urbanization

• Sage-Grouse are losing sagebrush habitat to oil
  and gas development
• Well pads
• Well pad spacing at 40 acres
• Each well pad lose 4-5 acres of habitat
• Federal land management agencies typically impose
  stipulations on development to provide
  sage-grouse protection
• Energy Policy Act
• EPA 2005 mandates stipulations on development
  shall only be as restrictive as necessary to
  protect the resource for which the restrictions
  apply

Skytruth.org
Well Pad (Drilled wells in a series covering an
area up to 300 wide by 100 long is common)
12
Conservation Issues Energy Development and
Urbanization

• Male lek attendance has decreased in association
  with development proximity
• Traffic volume and noise intensity disrupt grouse
  vocalization displays
• Nesting and brooding females avoid areas with
  high well density
• Power/high voltage lines provide power for
  drilling activity
• Attract raptors and golden eaglesroom to perch
  increase sage-grouse predation
• Sage-grouse injured when fly into these
  structures
• Sage-grouse do not like being around elevated
  structurese.g., pump houses, tanks, pump jacks
• Between 300-3000 trucks make trips to the pad
  either delivering supplies or hauling water off.
  It is a 24/7 activity with large flood lights
  used at night.

13
Conservation Issues Energy Development and
Urbanization

• Strategies to minimize sage-grouse/sagebrush
  disturbance
• Protection buffers
• Distance recommendationsdrilling activity .40 km
  away from lekresearch shows activity should be
  at least 5 km away to be effective
• Seasonal/timing restrictionsno drilling activity
  near lek between 4-9 PM during breeding season
• Perch preventers
• Buried powerlines
• Wells near leks are not to be visited till later
  in the day
• Well/road placementout of sight from lek
• Central tank batteries
• Smaller well pads
• Use of pipes instead of roads

14
Conservation Issues

• Herbicide treatments
• Grouse seldom use areas treated with herbicides
• Overgrazing
• Conservation strategies
• grazing management and big game regulations to
  maintain sagebrush habitat in good ecological
  condition (defined by USFS site guides)

15
Conservation Issues

• Predator Community Alteration
• Majority of sage-grouse nest failure is due to
  predation
• e.g., high raven populations decrease nest
  success
• Conservation Strategies?
• Predator removal (primarily coyotes)
• Removal of coyotes increases fox and raven
  populationsalso sage-grouse predators
• Increase in jackrabbit populations correlate with
  a decrease in sage-grouse populations (apparent
  competition)

16
Conservation Issues

• West Nile Virus
• Documented in the U.S. in 1999, spread rapidly
  across North America
• At least 208 bird species affected by virus
• First detected in sage-grouse in 2003
• West Nile Virus threat to sage-grouse related to
  human creation of standing water features in an
  otherwise arid environment
• Conservation Strategies
• Pesticides and mosquito control

17
Conservation Strategies contd

• Provide cost-share funds to aid private
  landowners in protecting, managing, and restoring
  sage-grouse habitat
• Continue to conduct lek counts each year to allow
  monitoring of population trends
• Establish sage-grouse working groups including
  state and federal agencies and private groups
• Establish a hunting season consistent with the
  population biology of sage-grouse
• Allow permit-only hunting, maintaining a
  conservative harvest of less than 10 of
  estimated population

18
Examples of Current Research Topics

• Evaluate the effects of predation, insecticides,
  and other sources of mortality on the juvenile
  segment of sage-grouse populations
• Develop more effective habitat restoration
  techniques for sage-grouse habitat to improve
  success of rehabilitation efforts after wildfire
  and to restore previously degraded sagebrush
  communities
• Evaluate the effects of disease on sage-grouse
  populations
• Evaluate the effects of loud noises and other
  disturbances on sage-grouse attending leks
• Evaluate the effects of existing water
  developments on sage-grouse populations

19
Get Involved

• Community Based Conservation Program
• Local Working Groups
• Box Elder County, Cache Valley and East Box
  Elder, Carbon, Color Country, Morgan, Parker
  Mountain, Rich County CRM, San Juan County,
  Southwest Desert, Strawberry Valley, Uinta Basin,
  West Desert
• Mission
• To implement a process that enhances coordination
  and communication between community-based
  adaptive resource management working groups,
  private, and public partners.
• To develop seamless plans for designated Utah
  geographic areas that contribute to the
  conservation of sage-grouse and other wildlife
  species that inhabit Utahs sagebrush-steppe
  ecosystems and enhance the economic
  sustainability of local communities.

20
Get Involved

• Petitioning US Fish and Wildlife Service
• Previous petitions denied but additional
  petitions are still being developed
• Letter expressing concerns may be sent to
• Dean MitchellUpland Game Coordinator
• Jim Karpozitz (DWR Director)

21
Questions???