Colorado Seeks Delay On Gunnison Grouse Decision
DENVER (AP) - Colorado is seeking a delay in a decision by federal officials on whether to protect the Gunnison sage grouse, saying voluntary measures could help save the bird.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service faces a court deadline Wednesday to reach a decision, but it was not clear how soon the conclusion would be made public.
Federal protection could impose restrictions on oil and gas development and other activity in the bird's habitat in Colorado and Utah.
Colorado officials proposed protective steps that included possibly relocating a road used for oil and gas drilling, the Denver Post reported Tuesday.
John Swartout, a policy adviser to Gov. John Hickenlooper, said a coalition of state and local officials and environmental groups suggested other measures including seasonal land closures.
Fish and Wildlife Service officials declined to comment, and it was not clear if the agency would consider a delay.
WildEarth Guardians, an environmental group that filed a lawsuit to force federal officials to make a decision on protecting the Gunnison grouse and other species, said Tuesday that it had agreed to a six-month delay already this year but little action was taken to protect the bird.
"This is a species that has gotten delay after delay after delay in its badly needed protections," said Erik Molvar, director of the group's Sagebrush Sea program. "It's time to put the safety net of the Endangered Species Act in place."
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.
Counties in western Colorado have voluntarily adjusted land use to reduce harm to grouse for years, Hickenlooper 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, Mueller 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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