The Sagebrush Sea – home to imperiled sage grouse

Sage grouse are negatively affected by oil and gas development, especially in or near their breeding, nesting, or brooding habitat.

More than 99 percent of remaining sagebrush steppe is or was impacted by livestock. Livestock trample vegetation; damage the soil; spread invasive weeds, resulting in more intense wildfire; pollute water; and deprive wildlife of food and shelter.

A deadly combination of fire suppression; grazing; the spread of invasive plants like cheatgrass, caused by livestock grazing; and climate change means more devastating wildfires. Sagebrush is very slow-growing, and sage grouse and other wildlife may not use burned sagebrush steppe for decades after these fires.

Less than five percent of the Sagebrush Sea ecosystem is more than 1.6 miles from a road. Sage grouse are killed in collisions with vehicles and may be affected by roads up to more than four miles away.

Cheatgrass, a non-native, flammable weed spread by domestic livestock, destroys native sagebrush steppe, increases the likelihood and spread of wildfire, and takes over burned habitat.

A number of the fastest-growing communities in the Interior West—itself the fastest-growing region of the country—are in the Sagebrush Sea. When sagebrush ecosystems are converted to housing developments or agriculture, their habitat values for sage grouse are lost.

A classic indicator species, the greater sage grouse is the foremost ambassador for the Sagebrush Sea ecosystem. These fascinating birds are famous for their mating rituals, which appear as an elaborate dance.

Recognized as a separate species in 2000, the Gunnison sage grouse is federally listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. Seven isolated populations, one in Southeastern Utah and seven in Southwestern Colorado, remain.

The smallest and rarest of the six species of grouse in North America, it now exists in less than 10 percent of its historic range.

Myriad destructive land uses have slashed lesser prairie chicken populations by more than 90 percent. We are working to gain ESA protections for these rare dancing birds.

A subpopulation of greater sage grouse that occur on the southern border of California and Nevada. Geneticists have discovered that Mono Basin sage grouse are genetically distinct from other sage grouse.