BHA Report Finds Sage Grouse, Energy Development Can Coexist

By Ammoland Editor Joe Evans

WASHINGTON -(Ammoland.com)- Only a fraction of greater sage grouse habitat is capable of producing energy of any kind, now or in the future, with 79 percent of areas with medium to high potential for energy development falling outside of grouse habitat, according to a report released today by Backcountry Hunters & Anglers.

Prepared by Western EcoSystems Technology Inc., the report looks at sage grouse priority habitat management areas, or PHMA, that are identified by the Bureau of Land Management in sage grouse management plans and evaluates the overlap between these areas and existing leases and rights-of-way for energy development.

The report also analyzes development potential for oil and gas, solar, and wind energy on public lands located within PHMA.

The BHA report comes as the Interior Department launches a review of collaborative sage grouse conservation plans currently in place to gauge the plans’ impact – and potential limitation of – energy development on habitat relied upon by the bird.

BHA Conservation Director John Gale called the report’s results “highly consequential” given the Interior Department’s decision to review the grouse management plans and stressed the need …Read the Rest

Source:: AmmoLand