In Balance: Conservation and development in sage-grouse habitat

In Balance: Conservation and development in sage-grouse habitat

Nov 15, 2024

Greater sage-grouse depend on sagebrush lands for food, shelter and reproduction year-round. A local population may use different parts of up to 40 square miles of land at different times of the year, while individual birds usually return to the same spots to breed and nest year after year.

Research shows when and how a population moves between habitat areas as the seasons change. Data also helps land managers understand how activity and change in habitat areas may affect the ways in which sage-grouse and other wildlife use these lands.

Sagebrush habitat can be lost to wildfire, drought or invasive species, or fragmented by activities that disturb the surface, even temporarily. | BLM graphic/Vanessa Rathbun

The BLM has proposed designating lands that have the highest habitat value as priority habitat management areas, or PHMA. Specifying the kinds of land uses allowed in PHMA is a way to minimize habitat loss and degradation in these areas.

Some portions of PHMA are more vulnerable to development threats than others. In these key sectors, the BLM is proposing a higher level of protection by excluding specified activities, with no exceptions. Of the 34.5 million acres identified as PHMA, 4.2 million acres, or about 12%, would receive this maximum protection.

Fluid mineral development

In the U.S., states manage wildlife populations, and landowners - public and private - manage habitats. The BLM works closely with state governments to determine which lands are needed to sustain wildlife and how to coordinate other uses. | BLM-Wyoming

The updated plans would only allow oil, natural gas and geothermal energy development in PHMA with a constraint called No Surface Occupancy (NSO). This condition on development rights means that a project cannot involve any buildings, fences, storage facilities or activities described in regulations about mining and mineral development.

The plans allow the BLM to grant some exceptions, waivers and other modifications to an NSO stipulation, but proposed updates would not allow any of these in key parts of PHMA. Any drilling to access minerals below the surface of these lands would have to be done from a location outside of the NSO area to avoid affecting sage-grouse habitat, using technologies like directional drilling.

Renewable energy

Some sagebrush lands are also potential sources of renewable energy. | BLM photos

Wind and solar energy development would be managed in a similar way: generally excluded from PHMA, with some exceptions considered on a project-by-project basis. In the parts of PHMA identified as needing the strongest protection, no wind and solar development would be allowed - no exceptions.

The BLM would likewise avoid authorizing major infrastructure such as power transmission lines in PHMA. Development like this would be excluded entirely from key priority habitat and would have to be routed around these areas.

The BLM manages the largest single share of greater sage-grouse habitat in the U.S. - nearly 65 million acres of 145 million total acres. Balancing habitat conservation and multiple use on these lands will ensure that decisions are relevant for sage-grouse today and durable in the face of changing climate conditions.

An average of 2.25 chicks per-hen need to survive their first year of life to keep a local sage-grouse population viable. | BLM-Utah/David Dahlgren

The greater sage-grouse is in decline. Populations once in the millions now number fewer than 800,000, largely due to habitat loss exacerbated by climate change effects, such as drought, increasing wildfires and the spread of invasive species.

We have announced a proposal to strengthen greater sage-grouse protections on public lands, informed by the best-available science and input from local, state and federal partners. Conserving sagebrush habitat benefits more than 350 other wildlife species and supports the livelihoods and traditions of Western communities.