Sage-grouse avoids 'endangered' status.

• Position: Eye on Ecology - Brief article

The Department of the Interior has announced that Endangered Species Act protections are not warranted for the greater Sage-Grouse, an impeccably-camouflaged, robust bird whose numbers nevertheless have dropped from more than 16,000,000 to between 200,000 and 500,000.

Currently, conservation plans for the Sage-Grouse include commitments from the Federal Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service, state wildlife agencies, and private landowners. Commitments range from the investment of nearly $500,000,000 to protect and restore 4,400,000 acres of habitat that sit on more than 1,100 private properties to protections on 65,000,000 acres of Sage-Grouse habitat on BLM land.

'This is a new lease on life for the greater Sage-Grouse and the entire sagebrush ecosystem," says David Yarnold, president and CEO of the National Audubon Society, New York. "Unprecedented cooperation by private landowners, states, and the Federal government has created a framework for conservation at a scale unique in the world. Finding a shared...