BISMARCK -- North Dakota Lt. Gov. Drew Wrigley and Terry Steinwand, director of the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, attended a meeting in Cheyenne, Wyo., last week to participate in discussions about a region-wide comprehensive sage grouse plan.
Sage grouse are limited to southwestern North Dakota, an area on the edge of the bird's native range.
Because of a long-term population decline throughout their native range, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last year considered listing sage grouse under the Endangered Species Act. The Service determined the listing was warranted, but other species had a higher priority for federal recovery efforts.
The Service is scheduled to revisit sage grouse listing in 2015.
"Sage grouse have had a rough time the past decade or more, not just here, but in all the Western states where they exist," Steinwand said. "While we're on the periphery of their range and we don't have a lot of these birds in North Dakota, we need to be part of the long-term population recovery plan."
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Steinwand said Game and Fish already has undertaken several projects, including research funding, the forming of a working group, cooperation with agencies such as the Natural Resources Conservation Service and Bureau of Land Management to connect fragmented habitat areas and providing incentives for private landowners to increase residual grass cover that benefits sage grouse.
"We're going to continue our efforts, in cooperation with other agencies and private landowners," Steinwand said. "It's in the best interest of all the states in sage grouse range to keep these birds off the endangered species list."
