alliance to save sage grouse

[gremlin]

you would think they would want to plant food for the birds, if they have lots of food they will bread more.


Conservationists, energy companies form unlikely alliance to save sage grouse
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-5 ... ncol;lst;1

A major effort is underway in the western U.S. to save the sage grouse, a bird that could soon be on the endangered species list due to increased development and a decrease in habitat. And it's not just environmentalists looking to help -- energy companies are too.


Western Wyoming is cowboy country -- and rancher Gary Zakotnik is cowboy to the core.


"It's just a part of our lives," Zakotnik said. "We're stewards of the land."


Zakotnik's ranch lands are also home to the greater sage grouse -- a large ground-dwelling bird with a declining population. Zakotnik wants to save them. He's trying to increase the grouse's habitat.


A century ago, an estimated 16 million grouse roamed the West. But today, with shrinking habitats, roughly 200,000 remain.


Map of the sage grouse's shrinking range


To protect them, the federal government is debating whether to list the bird as an endangered species -- a move that might ban ranching and drilling from lands where the bird lives.


But, "Sage grouse and a tremendous amount of the nation's natural gas reserves share the same ground," said Paul Ulrich of Encana Energy Corporation, the largest producer of natural gas in Wyoming. "A listing under the Endangered Species Act would devastate the oil and gas industry."


Economists say an endangered listing could cost billions in lost productivity across 11 western states.


State governments are so worried that they've formed unlikely alliances with energy companies and ranchers -- all hoping to save the species before the federal government steps in. That means protecting the sage brush. The birds eat the leaves and also the insects drawn to the plants.


Wyoming's sage-filled terrain is home to almost half of the country's remaining sage grouse. So the governor signed an executive order, limiting disturbance to sage brush in core habitats for the birds. Five other states are drawing up similar restrictions.


"Protecting the grouse, maintaining the habitat, is good for business," Ulrich said.


Ranchers like Zakotnik, agree.


"If we can manage the bird, we can solve our problems," he said.


The federal government expects to make a final decision on listing the bird by 2015. By then there are many hoping to prove that gas, grazing, and grouse can co-exist.

http://governor.wy.gov/contactUs/Pages/default.aspx

Contact the Governor
By Mail:
State Capitol, 200 West 24th Street
Cheyenne, WY 82002-0010


By Phone or Fax:
307.777.7434 (phone)
307.632.3909 (fax)

By Email:
Please enter your message in the areas provided below. Be sure to fill out all of the fields.

[Hoser John]

GGGGGSSSKKKKRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSTTTTTTTTTTT lets just ban it all--wind power---solar power---oil----coal---food crops--free range beef---blow up them damn dams--jobs? Jobs??JOBS--we don' need no stinkn' jobs as we just suckle the federal teat...-close tourism and then they might appease the assinine green machine....whom am I kidding as the filthy insane dogs will just ban more as we all head back to our unheated caves and draw on the walls...sic sic sic -John

[gremlin]

as i see it every one should adopt a sage grouse feeding area. you feed them suckers good and they will start breading very well. after you start feeding do not stop untill there are so many of them that they clog up the enviroment.

one way to beat them is to find out what they think is going to be on the endangerd list. now you mite get in truble if you mess with that criter. but i fyou can grow there food with out any problem then do it.

[russau]

and they taste great with some butter and garlic while roasting over Hickory/Oak fire!

[gremlin]

and they taste great with some butter and garlic while roasting over Hickory/Oak fire!

sounds good lets bread the heck out of them. till there cheeper than chicken. were going to need a cheep and easy food sorce after the big O gets done with us.

[h20prospector]

GGGGGSSSKKKKRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSTTTTTTTTTTT lets just ban it all--wind power---solar power---oil----coal---food crops--free range beef---blow up them damn dams--jobs? Jobs??JOBS--we don' need no stinkn' jobs as we just suckle the federal teat...-close tourism and then they might appease the assinine green machine....whom am I kidding as the filthy insane dogs will just ban more as we all head back to our unheated caves and draw on the walls...sic sic sic -John

Only thing they don't ban, are the illegals states are even bending over backward to give illegals in state tuition go figure