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Saving the Sage Grouse Hits a Snag
The priority directives of firefighting in the West have changed: the spotted owl is out and the greater sage grouse is in. The following quote from the Associated Press, via federalradio.com, is hardly comforting for home owners or ranchers in the West.
Much like how federal protection for the spotted owl 25 years ago has impeded logging, federal protection for sage grouse could restrict energy development and grazing across the Intermountain West. “Some people wish it wasn’t, but it’s a huge deal,” said Ron Dunton, assistant director of fire and aviation for the [Bureau of Land Management]. “If it’s listed, I tell people it will be the spotted owl times 50.
Left unsaid is the failure of the BLM and the Forest Service to thin out brush and dead trees. Part of this failure is due to endless lawsuits filed by an endless line of advocacy groups.
The good news is that the sage grouse has not been listed as an endangered species. The bad news is that there will probably be more court filings to place it on the endangered species list. Roe v. Wade is settled law, baking wedding cakes and gay marriage is becoming settled law, but the sage grouse can take comfort in the fact that it will never be settled law until their advocates win their first ruling.
Image Credit: “Centrocercus urophasianus” by Pacific Southwest Region U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Uploaded by Snowmanradio. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Commons.
Published in Domestic Policy
But how do they taste?
Someone needs to tell the deer, raccoons, possums, armadillos, squirrels, lizards, snakes, frogs, and countless other critters around my city — the 4th largest city in America — that they are incompatible with human civilization.
Start with the mosquitoes, please. They won’t listen to me.
Would the families of victims of wildfires have grounds to sue advocacy groups and the BLM for negligence (not thinning dead trees, etc. and impedeing land management)? If discussions about listing the sage grouse includes estimates of fire damage, including deaths, why can’t advocacy groups/BLM be held liable in a civil action? Auto manufactures and pharmecutical companies are liable for faulty products, why not advocacy groups for callously ignoring human suffering? Can’t we at least make this a public relations nightmare for these groups?
Doug,
The BLM seems to think that driving ranchers out of business is just a fun thing to do. There is a place in Gehinnom for them. As far as the Sage Grouse goes, if there is one thing I can’t stand it is someone who doesn’t know how to season a Sage Grouse.
Regards,
Jim
Does this mean I can relaunch my “Spotted Owl Gladiator Battles” business?
Do you use sage?
Mis,
Spotted Owl Gladiator Battles?? Tell me more.
Regards,
Jim
I think the Sage Grouse initiative is more about shutting down the fracking industry then saving some bird. There are a group of people that think oil is bad and will do anything, hurt any people just to get their way and shut any oil production down. Then there are others that want to shutdown fracking since they compete against it. The Sage Grouse is just a pawn in the game.
I’m more familiar with the problems of Federal land management in Oregon. Oregon is the 10th largest state in the Union in area, or square miles. 53.10% of the state is owned by the feds.
There are constant fights over the dams on the Columbia River. In fact some advocacy groups want the dams removed. Salmon advocates will sue to demand that more water flows down the spillways. If that hurts trout then the trout advocates will sue to demand that less water flows down the spillways. Then there are the endless lawsuits from advocacy groups to stop the removal of dead trees and brush from federal land as well as private forest land. But wait there is more, there are lawsuits that demand that grazing stop on Federal lands.
FJG,
Such pawns can be promoted to 8th rank and become Queens the most powerful piece on the board. We must think of a more edible use for the Sage Grouse lest the anti-frackers and other Luddite idiots wreck what’s left of our economy.
There that feels so much better doesn’t it.
Regards,
Jim
There’s some thought that the feds are doing it by proxy:
http://dailycaller.com/2015/09/22/critics-obama-admin-tries-to-hide-land-grab-from-western-states/
It should be renamed The Mongo Grouse.
Here’s another illustration of the principle:
(Apropos of nothing: One could make the same comparison using only a night view of Florida….)
Doug,
That’s one heavily armed squirrel. When he says “nuts!” I’d listen.
Regards,
Jim
Is the sage grouse any relation to The Famous Grouse?
Mis,
Are you being entertained!?
Regards,
Jim
Doug,
Look at that big blob of light in Western North Dakota Bakken. This must have been take in the last few years as that blob wasn’t there 10 years ago.
here is some annotation
The Bakken Oil Field is probably the reason that the Sage Grouse is now on the Feds radar.
Doug & Z,
We need pipelines not Sage Grouse (however tasty they can be).
Regards,
Jim
My Brother-in-law works in the Bakken for one the companies on the collection and distribution side side of the business (pipelines, tank farms, etc.). He says one of the big issues with the Bakken crude (and natural gas) is that has a lot of natural gas liquids which cause the oil to be volatile and the natural gas to be dirty. Pipeline capacity was almost non-existence before the boom and it has nowhere kept up with the growth in production.
The sage grouse is going to be a bigger problem for the coal-bed methane stuff in Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah. There aren’t many sage grouse in North Dakota – it is all farm fields. (Plenty of pheasants though!)
@Z#23: it does not matter if there are not many sage grouse on North Dakota. If the Feds decide that is its natural range then the bird can be used as an excuse to shutdown what they wish. The fact that the sage grouse is not in ND just shows why they must take action now to protect its ND range.
Q: Why do elephants paint their toenails red?
A: So they can hide in cherry trees.
Have you ever seen an elephant hiding in a cherry tree? See how well it works.