skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Scientists Criticize Changes to Sage-Grouse Conservation Plan

play audio
Play

Friday, June 29, 2018   

BOISE, Idaho – Scientists are pushing back against changes proposed to the multi-state Greater Sage Grouse Management Plan by the Trump administration. Twenty-one sage-grouse experts signed a letter to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke expressing concern over the Bureau of Land Management's proposal to focus more on individual states' approaches to conservation, rather than habitat-wide efforts.

The plan spans 11 states, including Idaho, and was crafted over several years to keep the bird off the endangered species list. Terry Riley, retired wildlife biologist with the North American Grouse Partnership signed the letter. He says the administration should keep the current plan in place.

"A lot of federal agencies, a lot of state agencies, a lot of NGOs, a lot of public citizens, a lot of local communities and businesses all came together to pull these plans together,” says Riley. “And making major changes now, after we went through all this work, is just not a very good plan."

Revising the plan could also open up some sage grouse habitat to oil and gas production, reflecting the Trump's commitment to prioritize fossil-fuel development. The sage grouse has lost half its habitat and 95 percent of its historic population in the West.

Along with the threat of energy production, Riley says invasive cheatgrass is creating fuel for wildfires and disrupting habitat not just for the bird, but more than 300 other species that also call the "sagebrush sea" home.

"If you burn sagebrush and it's hot enough, it takes about 50 years to recover,” says Riley. “So, it takes a long, long time to get the sagebrush condition back that you want. That's the kind of in the western part of the sage grouse range – in Idaho and Nevada, and Montana and parts of Wyoming."

Sage-grouse researcher Matt Holloran also signed the letter to Zinke. He says the BLM's proposed modifications aren't based on scientific evidence.

"Looking backwards and trying to change the plans is the wrong approach,” says Holloran. “I think we should be moving forward with the plans, and amending those in an adaptive way – science-based. Let's use the monitoring data that's collected as a component of implementing these plans, and make changes that are grounded in science."

The BLM is accepting public comment on the changes through August 2nd.


Support for this reporting was provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021