Don’t let the Departmet of the Interior impede the sage-grouse deal.

Hunters, ranchers and other stakeholders in Nevada worked together on a deal to conserve sage-grouse while also keeping our public lands open and working. This deal was the result of Westerners coming together to put aside differences and work out a compromise to keep the sage-grouse from being listed as an endangered species.

Now the Department of the Interior is casting a cloud of uncertainty over that deal without giving it a chance to work.

I applaud U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto for standing with hardworking Nevadans, sportsmen and women and ranchers and for asking Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to honor the deal that the federal government made with Nevadans on saving sage-grouse and our sagebrush lands.