Interior Secretary Jewell to tour Colorado ranch working to conserve sage grouse habitat

U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell is visiting Colorado to learn about efforts by ranchers to help conserve sage grouse. She's scheduled to join Gov. John Hickenlooper Monday afternoon on a tour of a ranch in Craig. Hickenlooper is trying to persuade the Bureau of Land Management to change its proposed plan for protecting the birds. Last week, he protested the agency's proposal to set limits on the amount of land that could be disturbed based on the amount of bird habitat. He said protections for the birds should still allow northwestern Colorado's main economic drivers — ranching and energy development — to thrive. The federal government is considering whether the western sage grouse population should be federally protected. Wyoming has proportionally more sage grouse habitat than any other state...more