NDOW Project to Protect the Bi-State Sage Grouse

In a continuing effort to help increase the population of Bi-State sage grouse, the Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW) is partnering with the U.S. Forest Service to address major threats to the population within an area located in Lyon and Mineral Counties.

The East Walker Landscape Habitat Improvement Project is part of the Bi-State Action Plan, a strategy to provide for the long-term conservation of the Bi-State sage-grouse and its habitat. The project, in part, calls for the removal of pinon and juniper trees in a 20,400-acre area located approximately 15 miles north of Bridgeport, California. NDOW has committed to contributing $330,000 for projects such as this in the next year alone.

"This is certainly not the first project of its kind to help conserve and improve habitat for the Bi-State sage grouse and it won’t be the last," said Mark Freese, Habitat Biologist for NDOW. "But this project is fairly significant in its scope relative to prior projects."

Projects like this and others helped convince the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFS) that the Bi-State sage grouse is not in need of extended protections under the Endangered Species Act. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell made this announcement on April 21 at the NDOW Headquarters in Reno.

Learn more here: http://www.ndow.org/New_Project_Planned_to_Help_Bi_State_Sage_Grouse/