BLM Moves Ahead With Multi-State Grouse Strategy

CHEYENNE, WY - The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is moving ahead with a multi-state strategy to protect populations of greater sage grouse in the West.

BLM scientists and managers recently met with state wildlife officials to update them on work to develop the strategy. The meeting took place at the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies summer conference in Big Sky, Mont.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced last year that the greater sage grouse deserves protection as an endangered species but such protection can't be extended because other species are more imperiled and in greater need of help.

Sage grouse are chicken-sized birds with a much-diminished range across the West. They can be found in Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, the Dakotas, Nevada, Utah, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Utah and Colorado.