- Federal land managers revised the greater sage-grouse plan for the first time in six years.
- The plan protects 65 million acres, but also offers more land for energy development, federal officials say.
- Conservationists argue it removes protections, risking the species' future.
SALT LAKE CITY — Federal land managers say they believe their new plan for the embattled greater sage grouse will enhance conservation efforts while providing energy and mineral development companies the space to grow in Utah and across the West.
But some conservation groups argue that their decision is a "holiday gift to private industry," by cutting millions of acres of protection in Utah alone.
Bureau of Land Management officials unveiled their updated plan for greater sage grouse conservation management on Monday, which outlines how habitats are managed on its land in Utah and several other states for the near-threatened bird species and hundreds of other species.
The plan calls for protecting approximately 65 million acres of sagebrush across the states, while also complying with Executive Order 14154, which President Donald Trump signed in January, calling for more energy development in the U.S.
"We are strengthening American energy security while ensuring the sage grouse continues to thrive. Healthy sagebrush country powers our communities, sustains wildlife and supports the economies that make the West strong," said Bill Groffy, the bureau's acting director, in a statement.
Conservation groups, on the other hand, say that looser regulations within the document will strip protections for the species from approximately 50 million acres, including approximately 4.3 million acres of habitat in Utah. They say that it also removes language protecting the species by warning about population declines.
"Trump's reckless actions will speed the extinction of greater sage grouse by allowing unfettered fossil fuel extraction and other destructive development across tens of millions of acres of public lands," said Randi Spivak, public lands policy director at the Center for Biological Diversity, in a statement.
The plan is "designed to strip away any habitat protections that might possibly get in the way of the industrial-scale exploitation of public lands," either for energy development or the livestock industry, said Erik Molvar, executive director of Western Watersheds Project. He said he's concerned that it could impact other species, including mule deer, elk and rabbit species that rely on the same habitat as the greater sage grouse.
The species' outlook on public lands looks "bleak," and it may need Endangered Species Act protection in the future, he added.
Greater sage grouse can be found in several states, but they're most prevalent in Utah, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Wyoming. Their populations have slipped over the past few decades. There were between 200,000 and 500,000 birds in the U.S. in 2021, down 80% from populations in the 1960s, per federal reports.
Bureau of Land Management officials point to habitat loss as a prime reason, which is exacerbated by other factors, like drought, wildfire and the spread of invasive species.
Yet, ways to protect the species have been controversial. Monday's decision is the largest update to the bureau's management plan since 2019, which also garnered debate among those who said the initial plan — adopted by the Obama administration in 2015 — didn't account for local needs, like grazing or development, and those who said it would further impact the declining species.
Meanwhile, Utah's senators co-signed a letter in 2023 urging Senate leaders to keep the greater sage grouse off the endangered species list, as legal cases involving the species picked up.
It seems that the legal fight over the greater sage grouse may not be over anytime soon, either. Center for Biological Diversity officials indicated that they will sue over the new policy.
"We're not letting these dancing birds go without a fight, so we'll see Trump in court," Spivak said.
