Members of Congress Urge Negotiators to Keep Sage-Grouse Rider out of FY21 Bill

In a letter submitted to key House negotiators,  members of Congress recently  asked that language  used to prohibit the greater sage-grouse from being given Endangered Species Act protections be omitted from this year’s final appropriations bill. 

A coalition of 59 members wrote to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Appropriations Chairwoman Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) urging them to maintain the House’s current position of eliminating a rider preventing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) from extending protections to the bird. 

Grouse populations across the West have been in decline in recent years. For instance, between 2015 and 2019, sage grouse populations (male bird counts on leks) in Utah, Wyoming and Idaho have dropped 61%, 41%, and 42%, respectively. While some attribute this to natural population cycles, leading sage grouse experts disagree and are expressing serious concern about the bird’s future. 

In addition to habitat loss from oil and gas development, a record-setting wildfire season has bird populations in Washington state in serious jeopardy. Wildlife managers reported last month that the Pearl Hill fire burned over half the active leks in the state’s endangered population in Douglas County.

The public lands and Sagebrush Sea the sage-grouse needs are also vital to local communities and economies for the ecosystem services (e.g., carbon storage, clean water, pollinators for food supplies) and recreation and tourism benefits they provide. This ecosystem also provides habitat for more than 350 other species of conservation concern. 

“Protecting the greater sage-grouse goes hand in hand with protecting the local western economies that rely on a healthy sagebrush ecosystem,” said Mary Beth Beetham,  director of legislative affairs for Defenders of Wildlife. “Time is running out for the grouse and without federal protections, we may lose this species forever.”

Congress has continuously passed annual appropriations riders blocking FWS from carrying out its responsibilities under the ESA to assure the viability of the greater sage-grouse since 2014. If the rider is included in this year’s final language, it would mean FWS would not be able to act on protecting the grouse until October 2021. The FY 2021 House Interior and Environment bill has eliminated the rider, but the Senate is expected to press for it to be included.

Appropriations negotiations are moving into the final stages, and Congress will be trying to finalize the FY 2021 appropriations bills when it returns after the elections. Study after study in recent years has shown that our planet is experiencing an extinction crisis of epic proportions – it is time for Congress to allow the FWS to do its job and to finally stop denying protections to this iconic keystone species.