I apologize if I personally seemed dismissive of WNV in general, that was not my intention, it's certainly a serious issue with grouse and many other things, what I am dismissive of is the notion that there has been an effort to suppress the seriousness of it and to purposely focus on less important issues in a politically motivated manner because that is not the case.
Wow - that's not really a solution
I don't have the numbers anymore, but IIRC nesting success and overwinter survival went up significantly. To be accurate, the transplanted birds were augmenting a struggling, local population. Here's a link to a paper looking at the effects of the predator control for that population:
apnews.com
Everything is a narrative if you want it to be, but when it becomes a trojan horse for something else you will never escape an infinite loop resulting in destruction of objectivity. Sure, everyone talks their book. But there is a lot of great info on this thread. Seems like there are places to agree, like ranchers and sage grouse both hate invasive grasses equally.The Sage grouse are pawns. Even with no ESA protection this is what is happening. You are naive if you think this has anything to do with saving Sage grouse....
Mining ban considered to protect bird species in US West
The Biden administration says it is considering a ban on new mining on large expanses of public lands in Western states to protect a struggling bird species, the greater sage grouse.
The Sage grouse are pawns. Even with no ESA protection this is what is happening. You are naive if you think this has anything to do with saving Sage grouse....
Mining ban considered to protect bird species in US West
The Biden administration says it is considering a ban on new mining on large expanses of public lands in Western states to protect a struggling bird species, the greater sage grouse.
The Sage grouse are pawns. Even with no ESA protection this is what is happening. You are naive if you think this has anything to do with saving Sage grouse....
Mining ban considered to protect bird species in US West
The Biden administration says it is considering a ban on new mining on large expanses of public lands in Western states to protect a struggling bird species, the greater sage grouse.
Yes I wish ESA was different. I love sage grouse and would love more. I hate that often ESA species are used as agenda propaganda. It just makes me people skeptical of its current use.I saw my first Sage Grouse in person last year when hunting a new to me unit - those birds are stunning. I stopped and watched them for 10-20 minutes almost every time I saw them. Believe it or not, people love their wildlife and want to protect their wildlife. One of the standard tools to achieve protection has been the ESA, which it more punitive in nature, and can be bundled into agendas unfortunately. Ideally, a less punitive model would exist for conserving species but lets be honest, Americans have a tough time facing reality, not maximizing profits, and voluntarily making sacrifices that are not in their best interest. The ESA hails from a time when both republicans and democrats shared concern over the environment. In fact, the house vote on the ESA bill was 390-12, the senate vote was 92-0. Ask yourself a couple questions here. Is there a bipartisan alternative to the ESA in todays United States? How did we arrive at this moment - a once bipartisan environmental movement that is now widely unpopular in the GOP?
The primary agenda here is conservation, people would be devastated if this bird disappeared.
Greater Sage-Grouse Populations Have Plunged by 80 Percent Since 1965
Outlining steep losses and a gloomy future for the bird without action, a new government report aims to stem further declines with an advanced monitoring program.www.audubon.org
"The number of sage-grouse has plummeted by 80 percent since 1965 across the charismatic bird’s 11-state western range, according to a report published today by the U.S. Geological Survey, the science agency for the Department of the Interior. Half of that decline has happened just since 2002."
Thank you for your work with the birds. They are amazing animals.
But without the ESA, there is no basis for any legal action so administrations have powers of a king. Sage grouse can't file a suit to argue their case. That said, I agree the ESA gets abused (see Grizzley bears) and lawsuits get ridiculous. This is because lawyers get paid for arguing not for solving problems. You have to follow the bouncing ball in this case : Trump Admin cleared use of public lands for mining in sage grouse habitat, lawsuits were filed arguing the administration didn't make a good case (following data and science and such), judge looked at the case and agreed there was a lack of due diligence and froze the action, new administration steps in and says they will look at it again. You can assign as much political color that you want on this, but it seems to be how it should work.
Thats pretty funny. I saw sage grouse all the time on reclaimed strip mine land.The Sage grouse are pawns. Even with no ESA protection this is what is happening. You are naive if you think this has anything to do with saving Sage grouse....
Mining ban considered to protect bird species in US West
The Biden administration says it is considering a ban on new mining on large expanses of public lands in Western states to protect a struggling bird species, the greater sage grouse.
I find it strange that the ESA is followed with vigor as long as it suits the goals of certain groups, but if it doesn't suit those goals it's often marginalized or ignored. Case in point are woodland caribou.
I am not sure what you are trying to say.
He’s likely referring to this
Not an endemic species either, nor Huns for that matter; and that's a significant factor in how I feel about such issues.
They are not endemic but not invasive either. Pheasants and Huns filled a niche that was either always empty or created by settlement (i.e. displacement of prairie chicken and sage grouse by agriculture). Yes, I wish we could go back to precolumbian days but it ain't going to happen. Pheasants and Huns are better than nothing. As far as I can tell the two exotics coexist well with native sharptails and sage grouse
I think they tried with caribou but were late. The current blame is on wolves of course, but they have been declining for a long time. Not sure ESA fits into this under your narrative. You somehow think not enough was done? I guess it is a fair point but what do you want done? I’m guessing you are against stopping logging.
