Sage grouse are one of the largest and most dramatically beautiful of all native North American birds, and as the keystone species of the sage-steppe landscape of eleven western states they are the symbol of myriad other sage-steppe obligate species ranging from pygmy rabbits to sage thrashers that are dependent on this little-respected ecosystem.

Western Watersheds Project has worked hard to protect and restore the habitat and populations of sage grouse across the western landscape. That work continues for us every day because the destructive impacts of human activities on the arid western landscapes of the sage-steppe deserts are accelerating everywhere.

Among those impacts are increases in wildfire brought about by climate change and the proliferation of non-native and highly flammable weedy species like cheat grass, expanding oil and gas development, power lines, fences, roads and off road vehicles, urban and exurban sprawl, agricultural development, dewatering of streams and springs for hydroelectricity projects and agriculture and west Nile virus, but the human activity that affects more sage grouse habitat than any other is livestock grazing.

Both cattle and sheep have destructive impacts on sage grouse habitat including the annual removal of hiding cover by grazing, the destruction of sage brush through battering effects of livestock, the trampling and compaction of riparian areas necessary for late summer brood rearing habitat and the enormous impacts of livestock management installations ranging from fences that directly kill sage grouse through in flight collisions to the dewatering of springs, seeps and wet meadows in order to pipe water long distances for livestock.

Much research has been carried out that shows that sage grouse are totally dependent on large continuous expanses of sage brush and the associated perennial bunch grasses that provide nesting habitat throughout their long lives. The birds also need healthy wetland riparian areas during the driest part of the summer. Without these habitat being in a healthy condition sage grouse are at high risk of death from habitat fragmentation and predation, and long-term population counts of the birds show that compared to historic numbers they are greatly reduced and continue to decline in most areas of the west.

Western Watersheds Project has chosen to influence the management of sage grouse habitats by various means, but one of the most important is to bring the force of law to bear against the mismanagement of critical landscapes on which sage grouse depend. At this time WWP is awaiting the release of a federal court decision in litigation we filed in 2006 contesting the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services denial of a petition cofiled by WWP to list sage grouse under the protections of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The litigation has been fully briefed and argued since early summer 2007, and WWP expects a decision at any time.

Should WWP prevail in court, the Fish and Wildlife Service will be obliged to reconsider its decision not to list sage grouse, and more than likely will carry out a new status review of the condition of sage grouse populations and habitat across the west. That review will need to assess all the growing threats to the species and could well result in the full protection of the species under the ESA.

The importance of this litigation and long-term effort by WWP and our partner groups cannot be underestimated. As the symbol of the sage-steppe ecosystems of the arid west sage grouse, if protected, will be the single most important force for change in ending the destructive activities that have so clearly degraded our western landscapes and brought myriad species including sage grouse to the brink of extinction.

Changing human beliefs about dominion over the earth that brought us to this point of high risk to many native species may not be fully possible, but sage grouse alone may lead the way in altering the destructive ways we have chosen in our relationship with our earth’s web of life.

Sage grouse are truly much more than just a beautiful bird of the western steppes of North America.

Jon Marvel is executive director of WWP. He lives in Hailey, Idaho.