Sage Grouse Released in Tooele County, Utah

By Justin Stakes

Birds will bolster current population

Vernon, UT -(AmmoLand.com)- With only one exception, greater sage grouse are doing well in Utah. And the one area where the birds are struggling — Tooele County — received some much-needed help on March 10.

At 6:45 a.m. that morning, 11 greater sage grouse — seven males and four females — were released near a breeding area called a lek. The lek is southwest of Vernon.

As soon as biologists opened the doors to the transport boxes, the newly arrived sage grouse — captured in western Box Elder County a few hours earlier — flew out of the boxes and onto their new home.

Jason Robinson, upland game coordinator for the Division of Wildlife Resources, says the birds that were released on March 10 will bolster the local sage grouse population as biologists continue to improve sage grouse habitat in the area.

“Once a population of greater sage grouse disappears,” Robinson says, “so does the chance that grouse will ever live in that area again.”

Robinson says sage grouse that are moved from one area to another usually don’t …Read the Rest

Source:: AmmoLand