The Bi-State Sage Grouse

The Greater Sage Grouse is one of the iconic birds of the western U.S.  It is huge, dramatic, and has fascinating breeding behavior that has made it the focus of many, many studies.  It is also declining.  These birds need extensive expanses of sagebrush to survive, and such expanses are being reduced by everything from grazing to road building to invasive plant species to oil and gas drilling.  One particular population of the Greater Sage Grouse has just been listed as federally threatened under the Endangered Species Act.  It is a geographically isolated and genetically distinct population that lives on the boarder between central California and central Nevada, hence the name the Bi-State Sage Grouse.  Only six groups of this grouse still exist and four of them are in immediate danger of destruction.  Endangered Species Act listing will make it a federal crime to harm these animals or the habitat they rely on.  Specifically, the listing guidelines set aside 1.86 million acres along the California-Nevada board as Bi-State Sage Grouse habitat to be protected for their conservation.

This population is the most southwesterly population of the species.  As such it has the potential to be especially important to the species conservation in the face of climate change.  As temperatures warm, on a global scale, organisms that are adapted to colder climates will tend to move north, but they will have a harder and harder time finding suitable habitat.  The organisms that are adapted to warmer climates will also tend to move north, but they will have a higher likelihood of finding suitable habitat as they do so.  This means that the Bi-State Sage Grouse has a high potential of being able to move into the rest of the Sage Grouse range and prevent the species from going extinct.  This is one of many reasons why protecting subspecies and distinct population units is so important.  If this population is allowed to go extinct, it could greatly effect the overall extinction risk of the species in the future.

A decision on whether or not to list the Greater Sage Grouse as an endangered species throughout its range is expected in 2015.  It is considered likely that the whole species will be listed, so the rest of the species will also be protected at that point.