This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The folks in the room at a recent Morgan County Planning Commission meeting had little idea how significant their vote would be. In considering whether to begin development next to a sage grouse lek, they held in their hands the fate of the greater sage grouse in our state.
The issue at hand seemed deceptively benign — changing a designation on the County General Planning map for nearly 3,000 acres from "Natural Resources/Recreation" status to "Master Planned Community." Pending approval from the County Council and a change in zoning status, a proposal then would emerge for the development of a new resort community north of East Canyon reservoir. The problem? This privately owned parcel, which harbors untrammeled wildlands prized by locals for its natural heritage and wildlife values, also includes a large and active sage grouse mating lek and occupied adjacent sage grouse habitat.
A few years ago, this issue would not have attracted much public attention outside of the county. But now many eyes are focused squarely on the beleaguered sage grouse and whether the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will decide to list the species under the Endangered Species Act next year.
In 2013, Gov. Gary Herbert and other western governors put forward a conservation plan in an attempt to convince federal biologists that listing the species is unnecessary: "We states have it covered with these great new plans that do lots of good things for sage grouse!" The state plan lays out a clear scenario: act to 1) avoid developing on and next to leks, 2) minimize all disturbances and 3) mitigate disturbances (though the science tells us mitigation efforts like trying to transplant birds does not work).
Well, here we are: the first test of the state's new sage grouse conservation plan. The plan applies only to state and private lands; the feds are amending 100 land use plans on federal lands to bolster sage grouse habitat protections there. Well over half of Utah's sage grouse leks occur on state and private lands, but abiding by Utah's sage grouse plan on such private lands — such as the lands under discussion in Morgan County — is entirely voluntary.
I hope that Morgan County chooses to support the governor and Utah's sage grouse plan so we don't fail our first test. Many proactive alternatives to development on private lands exist, including conservation easements to protect land from development while putting real dollars in landowners' pockets. Perhaps the state can orchestrate outright purchase of some of the most critical areas such as the lek, surrounded by a reasonable buffer.
The Utah Legislature recently awarded $2 million dollars to a special interest group to lobby in Washington D.C. against federal sage grouse listing. Imagine diverting comparable sums towards real conservation on the ground.This would be a genuine act of stewardship that might convince the feds that Utah is really serious about conserving the sage grouse.
The decisions of Morgan County's Planning Commission and County Council matter. Please, Morgan County, stand with the governor and our new conservation plan. Don't play fast and loose with the future of the sage grouse merely to appease landowners who aren't happy with how their land happened to be zoned when they bought it. Every decision we make now affects the future of this magnificent species, and Utah's natural heritage.
Allison Jones is a conservation biologist and director of Wild Utah Project and a member of the Governor's Sage Grouse Plan Implementation Council.