Featured image: Male sage grouse at the Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge, Wyoming. Tom Koerner/USFWS, CC BY by John Freemuth, Boise State University / The Conversation The Trump administration is clashing with conservation groups and others over protection for the greater sage grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus), a bird widely known for its dramatic mating displays. The …
Continue reading The Sage Grouse Isn’t Just a Bird – It’s a Proxy for Control of Western Lands → 
This article originally appeared on Counterpunch By Katie Fite / Wildlands Defense BLM is escalating herbicide use on public lands in the wake of the September 2015 Sage-grouse Plan Amendments and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Not Warranted Finding for ESA listing. A primary agency excuse for forsaking sage-grouse ESA protection is the pipe …
Continue reading Toxic Range: BLM’s Growing Chemical Addiction → 
By Katie Fite / WildLands Defense This article first appeared on Counterpunch Featured Image: Virgin River with banks trampled like a feedlot by Cliven Bundy cattle. May 2015. In Oregon, an armed occupation of Malheur Wildlife Refuge headquarters is being led by self-proclaimed “patriots” from Nevada. They are defending a public lands ranching family’s “right” to …
Continue reading BLM Leadership Coddles Hostile and Law Breaking Nevada Ranchers like Cliven Bundy → 
By Will Falk / Deep Green Resistance Featured image: The author surveying the devastation of Pinyon-Juniper deforestation (Photo: Max Wilbert) Once I recovered from the shock I experienced witnessing the carnage produced by a Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) so-called “pinyon-juniper treatment project” just south of Spruce Mountain in Nevada, all I wanted was the …
Continue reading Pinyon-Juniper Forests: BLM’s False Claims to Virtue →
Today, the US Department of the Interior decided to not pursue listing the Greater Sage Grouse under the Endangered Species Act. This species has declined more than 98% since 1988, from already reduced levels. Here are some reactions from Oregon politicians, who seem to celebrate the ruling — and we’re including some commentary of our …
Continue reading Sage Grouse Won’t Be Listed Under the Endangered Species Act; Politicians Celebrate → 
Members of the Paiute nation living in northeastern Nevada are angry after the Forest Service clearcut more than 70 acres of pine nuts trees that have been used by the tribe for thousands of years, until the modern day.
According to the Forest Service, the trees were cut "by mistake" as part of a federal plan to improve habitat for the Sage Grouse. ...
Continue reading → 
“Protecting Sage Grouse in the Great Basin” “…Restoring native plants and biodiversity in the sagebrush-steppe ecosystem of the Great Basin, where a massive invasion of non-native grasses, particularly cheatgrass, has turned millions of acres into a fire-prone monoculture. As Climate Progress has reported, finding innovative ways to beat back the cheatgrass invasion and restore sagebrush …
Continue reading News from the Great Basin → 
For Immediate Release, February 12, 2014 Contact: Rob Mrowka, (702) 249-5821, rmrowka@biologicaldiversity.org Lawsuit Filed to Halt Massive Las Vegas Water Grab Pipeline Would Dry Up Springs and Wetlands, Hurt Fish, Sage Grouse, Pronghorn and Other Species LAS VEGAS— The Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit in U.S. district court today to halt a right-of-way needed for …
Continue reading Lawsuit Filed to Halt Massive Las Vegas Water Grab → 
In the arid Powder River Basin of Northern Wyoming and Southern Montana, the long roots of sagebrush draw water from deep beneath the soil. The ability to access water in this way makes sagebrush an important star of the Basin's biotic constellation. Species of grasses and herbs are allowed to thrive on the moisture that the sagebrush draws toward the surface. ...
Continue reading →
News for Environmental Activists