Federal agreement to protect sage grouse habitat
Washington Ag Today April 15, 2010 The secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior Department have signed an agreement to support the conservation of greater sage grouse and sagebrush ecosystems in parts of 11 western states including Washington. The Fish and Wildlife Service is committing to work with the Natural Resources Conservation Service to use the authorities of the Endangered Species Act to provide participating landowners with reasonable assurances that their activities will be consistent with the act should the sage-grouse later be listed as a threatened or endangered species. USDA’s NRCS Chief Dave White signed the agreement. White: “If you are a rancher this memorandum is really a big deal for you. Essentially it sets up an umbrella that Fish and Wildlife Service and NRCS can work together to provide certainty to ranchers that if they look at their operations, address the threats to sage grouse, that they will be able to continue to operate. I think the certainty issue is absolutely critical and very much welcome for agriculture and the ranching community.” Last month the USDA announced a new initiative to protect sage grouse populations and habitat using two popular conservation programs, the Environmental Quality Incentives Program and the Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program. Producers can sign up through April 23rd to participate in the first round of rankings for the initiative, which is available in Douglas and part of Lincoln counties in Washington. In March the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services said the sage grouse warranted Endangered Species protection but did not lists it due to other priority species. I’m Bob Hoff and that’s Washington Ag Today on Northwest Aginfo Net.
