PARACHUTE — A plan to help protect the greater sage grouse in the heart of natural gas drilling country in Garfield and Rio Blanco counties is near completion.
The voluntary effort involves government agencies, the energy industry, ranchers, conservation groups and other interests. It is aimed in good part at attempting to head off mandatory actions that might result if the bird gained protection under the federal Endangered Species Act.
“People come to the table knowing that action locally is in everybody’s best interest,” said Randy Hampton, spokesman for the Colorado Division of Wildlife. “Without these kinds of plans, without this kind of work, I think there’s a fear out there that the Endangered Species Act is the next step.”
The plan covers the Parachute, Piceance and Roan creek areas north and west of Parachute. Population numbers have been hard to estimate for the area, and energy companies have contributed money for surveying efforts. A three-year running average for high male counts is 195, larger than for some remaining populations in the state, but significantly smaller than for others.
The greater sage grouse, known for its spring mating rituals in which males strut on grounds called “leks,” was found in lower-elevation areas around Rifle, Silt, De Beque and Plateau Creek a half-century ago. Now its local range is limited to between 7,000 feet and 9,000 feet elevation.
The bird also is the subject of a national conservation plan, a recently released statewide plan, and several other local plans where the birds are found elsewhere in Colorado. Hampton said the local plans are valuable in bringing about implementation of the strategies outlined at higher levels.
The plans are being put into place amid continuing efforts by conservation groups to obtain endangered species protection for the birds. A court ruling in December forced the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to review an earlier decision not to list the species.
Participants in conservation plans for the greater sage grouse hope steps they take can help populations thrive to the point that listing isn’t necessary.
“We definitely support the conservation measure approach over the listings approach, and we believe we can be successful in doing that,” said Susan Alvillar, spokeswoman for Williams Production, which participated in the Garfield and Rio Blanco counties’ plan.
She said the energy company has an employee who works almost exclusively on sage grouse protection. The company believes in helping to fund sage grouse studies so the bird’s management isn’t reliant on anecdotal evidence.
“I don’t think we have any argument with restrictions that are placed on what we do if they are based on facts and science,” Alvillar said.
About 65 percent of the local conservation plan involves private land. That means protective measures rely in good measure on voluntary participation, provided endangered species status doesn’t kick in. Also, much of the sage grouse’s local habitat involves gentler slopes on ridges between drainages. They are largely the same places where drilling occurs.
Some of the measures the plan identifies to minimize drilling’s effects include clustering drilling in certain areas, doing off-site habitat improvement to mitigate impacts, and even treating lower-elevation evaporation pits to control mosquitoes and reduce the chance of the birds contracting West Nile Virus.
The plan points out that recreation, predation, agricultural operations and other factors also can pose threats to the birds.
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E-mail Dennis Webb at dwebb@gjds.com.
