Conservation groups condemn sage grouse plan: Controversy focuses on livestock grazing

By refusing to reduce livestock grazing, proposals offered by the BLM and U.S. Forest Service to manage sage grouse across the West will not do enough to keep the birds off the endangered species list, conservationists involved in the process contend. “All of these plans are following the same trend—they are choosing preferred alternatives that the best available science says are insufficient to conserve the species,” said Mark Salvo, federal lands policy analyst with Defenders of Wildlife. Neither of two alternatives proposed by conservationists was selected. Both would substantially reduce grazing. Conservationists claim that grazing has degraded sage-grouse habitat and increased the frequency of range fires by spreading the growth of cheatgrass. They say an understory of cheatgrass, an exotic species, prevents the recovery of native plants essential for sage grouse food, cover and nesting. Karen Launchbaugh, a professor of rangeland ecology at the University of Idaho, has a contrary view. She acknowledges that heavy, poorly timed grazing can promote the growth of cheatgrass, but says properly targeted grazing can actually improve sage-grouse habitat. “The problem with reducing grazing in the ecosystem is that you increase fuels and increase the chances for fire,” she said. “The goal is to manage grazing in a way that does not degrade sage-grouse cover but does reduce fuels. It’s the amount of grazing but it’s also seasons.” Launchbaugh advocates putting cattle onto the land in early spring when cheatgrass is one of the few plants to have emerged, as well as late in the season. She said the time to avoid grazing sage-grouse habitat is during the late spring and summer when the native plants are flowering. “Properly grazed systems have less cheatgrass than improperly grazed systems or not-grazed systems,” she said...more