Wildlife, energy advocates reach accord about sage grouse Landowners and wildlife conservationists gave up large swaths of habitat they considered important to sage grouse, particularly in the Powder River Basin. Energy developers, some reluctantly, agreed to a stipulation that they must demonstrate activity will result in no loss of sage grouse or sage grouse habitat in "core areas." Most all stakeholders agree that the state's plan to protect sage grouse is a true, workable compromise. "We wanted to come up with a solution that protected an adequate number of sage grouse without shutting down the state development-wise. There was a lot of good give and take, and overall we came up with a core area strategy. It's a solid concept," said Mark Winland of the Wyoming Wildlife Federation, who served on the governor's Sage Grouse Implementation Team. Gov. Dave Freudenthal on Friday issued an executive order outlining the state's plan to protect sage grouse and sage grouse habitat in Wyoming. It's the culmination of a multi-stakeholder effort that began in June 2007 when the governor held a summit in Casper regarding sage grouse, which some groups want to be listed under the Endangered Species Act. The governor's order consists of 12 stipulations and a map of "core" areas where the stipulations could be implemented, including a mandate for developers to demonstrate their proposed activity will result in no loss of sage grouse or sage grouse habitat....