BLM presents potential plans to support greater sage-grouse

CHEYENNE — The greater sage-grouse population is spread across 11 Western states, but that population is declining. Between 1965 and 2021, that number has plummeted 80%, and half of that decline happened just since 2002, according to a report from the U.S. Geological Survey.

Estimates predict as many as 16 million sage-grouse lived across the plains and high deserts in Canada and 13 states, according to the National Audubon Society. Current estimates put that number somewhere between 200,000 and 500,000.

Efforts to register the species as endangered have failed nine times.

Recently, the Bureau...