This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
As Westerners gather this week in Salt Lake City to chart the future of sagebrush conservation, it's a good time to take stock of where we are and where we need to go.
In 2010, many thought it was a foregone conclusion that the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service would soon list the greater sage grouse under the Endangered Species Act. This prospect catalyzed the most ambitious and far-reaching conservation effort in the act's history.
The service's September 2015 decision to not list the greater sage grouse was a remarkable moment in wildlife conservation. The thousand-plus private landowners who signed up to protect habitat, the federal and state sage grouse plans and the scores of non-profit conservation efforts amount to an epic promise from this generation to the next. A promise to conserve and restore the vast sweep of sagebrush that's supported people and wildlife for generations.
Now, it's up to all of us to keep that promise.
While the service sees our "not warranted" finding as a victory for collaborative conservation, it really must be the beginning of a much bigger success story. By leading the restoration of healthy sagebrush communities and the wildlife that depends on them, Westerners can protect our future and a landscape that's given so much for so long.
But first, several things need to happen.
Full and timely implementation of state and federal sage-grouse plans is imperative. While the threats to the bird have been reduced, they have not been eliminated. We applaud the budget approved by Congress, which includes increased funding to help the Bureau of Land Management control invasive weeds, remove encroaching juniper, and support local collaborative efforts with public lands grazers to maintain or restore healthy sagebrush communities for people and wildlife. The service is standing by to help our partners during this process.
We must corral the scourge of cheatgrass and other invasive weeds, which out-compete native vegetation while providing the fuel that turns small fires into a landscape-scale threat. More than 10 million acres of existing sagebrush habitat in the Great Basin are at moderate or high risk of being overrun by cheatgrass. This is our most pressing challenge and we must attack it like never before.
Together, state and federal agencies are also focusing on suppressing fires in the best sage grouse habitat and doubling down on post-fire rehabilitation to give native bunchgrass communities a fighting chance to get back on their feet.
Our goal is healthy sagebrush landscapes that support abundant, well-distributed, state-managed sage grouse populations across the range. Healthy sagebrush will mean abundant mule deer, elk, pronghorn, golden eagles and hundreds of other wildlife species — and healthy ranching communities.
We are all partners in an historic effort. We're showing the nation that by working together, we can tackle intractable issues. If we can live up to the responsibilities of stewardship, we can shape our future and ensure that this land — with all its bountiful gifts — will continue to prosper. Together, our success will improve the productivity of the land, preserve a working landscape, and make the prospect of future ESA fights far less likely.
I know Westerners have the determination to make it happen. It is not just the sage grouse that is counting on us — future generations will look back to see if we kept our promise.
Noreen Walsh is regional director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Mountain-Prairie Region, which encompasses Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas.