Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Letter to the Editor:

Work to avoid sage grouse listing

Regarding the Jan. 12 article “Saving the sage grouse”:

There is a tendency among us here in Nevada to put our heads in the sand when we think about the many public-lands issues we face, but as the article states, we still have time to avoid a listing of the sage grouse under the Endangered Species Act.

We can avoid the listing and resulting restrictions on the use of public lands, but we must not delay. To move forward for the benefit of everyone, we must have true and timely collaboration from affected rural communities, industries and government agencies so we can keep sage grouse a state-managed species.

It’s been done before and can happen again. There are examples of species that were proposed for listing but ultimately were not listed because threats to those species were reduced. There is also public support for protection of sage grouse: Polls show that well over three-fourths of voters in the West say it is important to protect sage grouse habitat, and an overwhelming majority supports strong Bureau of Land Management plans to protect the bird and its habitat.

Nevada’s plan, in combination with a strong BLM plan and legislation that Sens. Dean Heller and Harry Reid are working on with rural counties, is part of a solution that encourages habitat protection and continued use of our public lands by ranchers, sportsmen, miners and recreationists. Let’s continue to work hard here at home to avoid a federal listing of the sage grouse.

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