DENVER (AP) — Colorado asked federal officials to again delay a decision on whether to protect the Gunnison sage grouse, saying voluntary measures could help save the bird.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service planned to announce its decision Wednesday. Protecting the bird would impose restrictions on oil and gas exploration and other land use in the bird’s habitat in Colorado and Utah.
The decision has been delayed at least four times already.
The Denver Post reported Tuesday (https://tinyurl.com/lvp2v75 ) Colorado officials proposed protective steps including possibly relocating a road used for oil and gas drilling.
Fish and Wildlife Service officials declined to comment. It was not clear if they would consider a delay.
The agency has said in the past that protecting the Gunnison sage grouse could mean that about 2,600 square miles might be designated as critical habitat for the bird.
About 5,000 Gunnison sage grouse remain in southwestern Colorado and southeastern Utah.
They are related to the greater sage grouse, which is at the center of a separate debate over federal protection across more land in several Western states.
Colorado has threatened to sue the federal government if the Gunnison grouse is protected.
Gov. John Hickenlooper said Monday western Colorado counties have voluntarily adjusted land use to reduce harm to grouse for years.
Many private property owners in that county voluntarily close roads during the March-May nesting season on land suitable for grouse.
A county biologist reviews development permits.
“We feel we’ve met the threshold for a not-warranted listing. We feel the bird is not going extinct,” county commissioner Jonathan Houck said.
Megan Mueller, a biologist for the environmental group Rocky Mountain Wild, said significant threats to the Gunnison grouse still must be addressed but that a delay might make sense.
Protecting the Gunnison grouse would have broad benefits, she said.
“Grouse are an indicator species,” she said. “If you lose them, you also will be losing elk, deer and hundreds of other species that depend on that same ecosystem.”
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