SACRAMENTO (CN) — The greater sage grouse, in a way, is a barometer for the health of the land.
Its numbers have been dropping for years in California. Scientists have pointed to several reasons: habitat loss, land development, mining and climate change. It’s feared the bird’s subpopulations in the state could disappear.
That’s why advocates for the greater sage grouse are praising a move Wednesday by the state’s Fish and Game Commission, which now provides California Endangered Species Act protections for the bird.
“They are very uncommon in California,” said Ileene Anderson, a senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity. “They’re really a barometer for the health of the Great Basin Desert.”
In 2022, the Center for Biological Diversity petitioned for the protections, which were recommended in April by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. That was followed on Wednesday by the bird’s elevation to candidate species.
The move isn’t permanent. The Department of Fish and Wildlife will now perform a scientific review and return in about a year with a final recommendation.
“It remains protected until the commission makes a decision to make it permanent or not,” Anderson said.
In a press release, Anderson called it a “relief” to see the greater sage grouse’s protections move toward permanency.
Greater sage grouse are known for their plumage and intricate mating dances. During those dances, the males make popping sounds with inflated air sacs.
The bird calls two different parts of the state home.
There’s a population in Lassen and Modoc counties and along the California-Nevada border in Inyo and Mono counties. The latter group is genetically unique.
According to a state report, between 1999 and 2001, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service received three petitions to list the greater sage grouse rangewide as endangered or threatened. A formal status review began in April 2004.
The following year, the agency determined the species did not warrant protection under the Endangered Species Act. However, in 2007, a federal court ruled that the finding was incorrect.
In 2008's Center for Biological Diversity v. California Fish and Game Commission, a California appeals court addressed the commission’s determination of whether a petitioned action should be accepted for consideration, resulting in the species' designation as a candidate species. In 2010, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service found that listing the greater sage grouse was warranted but precluded by higher priority species.
On Nov. 21, 2022, the commission received the petition from the Center for Biological Diversity requesting that it list the greater sage grouse as threatened or endangered throughout its range in California.
“This report is great news for California’s beautiful dancing sage grouse,” Anderson said at the time. “The ongoing declines in nearly all of the birds’ populations doesn’t bode well for them. Legal protections will help reduce threats to sage grouse and their sagebrush habitat so they don’t slide further toward extinction.”
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