The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is looking to Audubon Wyoming to map sage grouse habitat across the 11 states where the bird is found.
Sage grouse have been losing their sagebrush habitat for decades and now face listing under the Endangered Species Act. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service expects to announce a listing decision next week.
New regulations resulting from an endangered or threatened species listing could substantially affect a variety of land uses across the West, including gas development and
wind energy.
Existing maps show the chicken-sized bird inhabiting large portions of Wyoming, Nevada, Montana, Oregon and Idaho, and smaller areas in Colorado, Utah, California, the Dakotas and Washington, including Okanogan County.
Chad Hepp, a BLM contracting officer in Denver said, The BLM plans to award a contract for mapping sage grouse habitat to the Audubon Wyoming by early March. The contract amount has not been negotiated yet but won't exceed $100,000.
Audubon already works with various state agencies that have been studying where sage grouse habitat exists, Hepp said Tuesday. He said the group should be able to draw from that data without having to do new field research.
State and local groups in Wyoming have been working for years to encourage study of the birds so their habitat can be protected and an endangered species listing averted.
© Copyright 2006 by North Cascades Broadcasting, Inc
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