Sage grouse not listed yet as endangered

Populations of greater sage grouse in Nevada and other Western states warrant protection under the Endangered Species Act but the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has decided to preclude a formal listing because of priorities with other species that are closer to extinction.

The decision announced Friday by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar means the sage grouse will be a candidate species and development of renewable energy such as wind and solar power will continue with scrutiny aimed at locating those facilities and transmission lines on public lands where sage grouse will be least affected.

"We need to find a way of protecting habitat but also develop much needed energy resources," Salazar said.

A team of 38 scientists was consulted for the decision. They observed that sage grouse have declined by 90 percent from their historic numbers in the past 100 years and about half their habitat has been lost through wildfires, invasive species and human factors. They concluded, however, that the immediate threat of extinction is relatively low compared to other species.

There are hundreds of candidate species that are reviewed each year by the Fish and Wildlife Service to determine whether or not their status is improving or getting worse. Based on that review their position on the list could change.

The sage grouse is considered an eight on a priority scale of 12 where one is the highest priority.

There are 249 species on the candidate list not counting the sage grouse. Of those, 150 species have a higher priority for listing, said Jeannie Stafford, spokeswoman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Nevada.

One sage grouse population, however, in the Mono Basin of Northern Nevada and California has been given a priority level of three because the magnitude and immediacy of threats it faces are more severe than those in the general Western states' populations.

Delaying federal protection for Mono Basin sage grouse "is clearly illegal and irresponsible," said Rob Mrowka, an ecologist and Nevada conservation advocate for the Center for Biological Diversity. He said Mono Basin sage grouse numbers have declined by 70 percent in the past 25 years.

"Continued delay of protection for the Mono Basin population of sage grouse is a recipe for extinction," Mrowka said in a news release.

In 2008, biologists estimated there were 70,000 to 80,000 sage grouse thriving in Nevada. Their numbers were down from 100,000 in 2005 .