Monday, December 29, 2014

Commentary: Ravens are the problem, not sage grouse



If Secretary Jewell really wanted to do something to help the sage grouse, she would take the raven off the Migratory Bird Treaty list, which in reality protects the raven. The number of ravens in Nevada and elsewhere has increased at least 600 percent. This is from their historic level, to where today there are more ravens than sage grouse.

The Department of Interior has studies which prove 80 percent of the sage drouse nests are being depredated. The studies also show the ravens are responsible for at least 50 percent of the nests depredated. Coyotes and badgers also ravage the nests of the sage grouse. Coyotes also kill a large number of the chicks, as well as many of the adult birds.

The ravens are now destroying the nests and eating the sage grouse eggs, yet the government insists on protecting the raven. It is hard for a species to hold their own or increase when the population is not being replaced by their young.

Secretary Jewell also stated the United States Fish and Wildlife Service has been working with environmentalists and officials in the Western States to find a solution to protect the species and its habitat without a formal listing. What a joke, the environmentalists all want the bird listed. They want to get rid of the miners and ranchers as well as other users of the public lands.

The only people that can really improve the habitat are the users who are out on the land day in and day out. They are the ones who irrigate the meadows, plant alfalfa while increasing the habitat for the sage grouse. The people on the ground, who work for the BLM, could and would improve the habitat, however they are for the most part stymied by the higher-ups in Washington D.C.

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