Plans released today by the Trump administration spell disaster for imperiled greater sage grouse in Colorado, California, Nevada, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming. The new plans allow fossil fuel companies enormous new loopholes to drill and frack the birds’ habitat.
The new plans unravel sage grouse protections approved in 2015 by western states and federal officials. They allow the Bureau of Land Management to lease hundreds of thousands of acres of sage grouse habitat for oil and gas drilling. Sage grouse are intensely loyal to particular areas, depend on unfragmented habitat, and are especially sensitive to any disturbance.
Many other species also depend on the sagebrush ecosystem the grouse call home, including pronghorn, elk, mule deer, golden eagles, native trout, and nearly 200 migratory and resident bird species.
Read the press release.
