Grouse Studied For Possible Protection

Wed., Aug. 30, 2000

Federal wildlife officials have begun studying whether Washington’s western sage grouse populations deserve protection under the Endangered Species Act.

The Fish and Wildlife Service announced last week it will take nine months to gather public comments, evaluate the bird’s populations and identify measures already in place to protect the grouse.

The Northwest Ecosystem Alliance in Bellingham and the Biodiversity Legal Foundation of Boulder, Colo., petitioned the government to protect the sage grouse last year.

Historically, western sage grouse were found through most of the eastern portions of Washington and Oregon and in south-central British Columbia, the Fish and Wildlife Service said.

Today, the chicken-like, ground-nesting bird can be found only in southeastern Oregon and in two areas of Eastern Washington that are 34 miles apart: Douglas County, and a portion of Kittitas and Yakima counties that includes the Army’s 500-square-mile Yakima Training Center.

The proposed endangered listing involves only the Washington populations, which total about 1,000 birds.

The western sage grouse once was a popular game bird, but hunting of the species was closed in Washington in 1988 due to its decline.

Loss of native shrub-steppe habitat is the primary threat to the species, though the bird’s decline in Washington also is attributed to predators, vehicles striking the birds, pesticides and disturbances caused by activities at the Yakima Training Center, the Fish and Wildlife Service said.

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