'Chicken-Sized Bird' Shows Why Conservationists Don't Always Agree

When it comes to the sage grouse—a spiky-tailed bird once described as a cross between a sumo wrestler and Elton John in camo—conservationists agree on a lot, like protecting the tens of millions of acres it inhabits in the West and halting the march of invasive species. But, as the federal government is weighing whether to list the birds under the Endangered Species Act, not all conservationists want to see the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service add the grouse to the rolls. Instead, conservation organizations across 11 states argue that by working with miners, ranchers, state governments, and others who care about the bird—and the implications of listing it as endangered—they can preserve sagebrush habitat and help the sage grouse recover. "Listing a species under the ESA is an admission of failure," said Kyle Davis, a consultant with the League of Conservation Voters and Wilderness Society in Nevada. "The hook is that we have this window of opportunity to do the right things now." The exact window of opportunity depends on which species of bird you're talking about. A decision on the greater sage grouse, whose habitat stretches across a huge swath of the West, covering about 22 million acres and stretching from the Dakotas in the east to California in the west, from Montana in the north to Utah in the South (11 states in all), is expected in late 2015. The government expects a decision on a Nevada-California species early next year, and another species native to Colorado, called the Gunnison sage grouse, is expected later this year...more