Utah governor pitches plan to protect sage grouse

Utah’s new greater sage grouse conservation plan aims to protect and expand the bird’s sagebrush habitat, but it places only voluntary prescriptions on private land and allows development to erase grouse turf as long as habitat is restored elsewhere. Conservationists were quick to point out what they see as weaknesses in the plan that was crafted to prevent the ground-nesting bird’s listing as a federally protected species. "We are very committed to helping the sage grouse in Utah thrive. The folks in rural Utah consider the land, both private and federal, their backyard and they take good care of it and they want those wildlife critters to stick around," said Kathleen Clarke, Gov. Gary Herbert’s top public lands adviser. Herbert on Wednesday released the plan, which designates 11 sage grouse conservation areas that cover about 7.5 million acres. The state envisions a "mitigation bank" that lets industry purchase the privilege to "disturb" habitat, including leks, by reclaiming four times more habitat for the birds elsewhere. "It tries to avoid disturbance. If you have to move in with an oil well or with a recreational opportunity, we hope to compensate that loss [of habitat] with a 4-to-1 ratio, which is a gain," said John Harja, Clarke’s predecessor who now advises the state Department of Agriculture...more

The above is from the Salt Lake Tribune.  Now note the different headline and story from the Deseret News

Utah unveils plan to conserve 90 percent of greater sage grouse population
 
Gov. Gary Herbert's office rolled out its conservation plan for the imperiled greater sage grouse, setting up 13 distinct management areas it hopes will prevent the animal from being named to the Endangered Species List. Such a federal classification would have substantial economic impacts to Utah, invoking limitations on development, natural resource extraction and grazing — limits top state officials have been fighting to prevent. "We certainly want to avoid a listing," said Kathleen Clarke, director of the governor's Public Lands Policy Coordination Office. "About 95 percent of these birds in Utah live in these management areas we are going to focus on." The conservation plan released Wednesday grew out of a yearlong working group effort led by Clarke that tapped the expertise of wildlife biologists, conservationists and public land managers such as the Bureau of Land Management and the School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration. A series of public meetings also solicited input from residents who may be impacted by a listing, as well as farmers and ranchers interested in implementing conservation strategies to help the small, chicken-like birds...