Sage Grouse habitat challenged

A conservation group is asking a federal judge to set aside federal land managers’ plans to remove sagebrush, pinion pines and junipers across a large swath of public lands in eastern Nevada. The Western Watersheds Project contends that the Bureau of Land Management’s plans to mow, chop, burn and poison sagebrush in Cave and Lake valleys south of Ely will harm habitat for imperiled sage grouse and other wildlife. The case was filed in U.S. District Court in Boise, Idaho, last month because it’s a companion to a bigger lawsuit challenging the BLM’s management plans for 16 separate areas across the West. The Idaho-based watersheds project argues that the Ely-area plan affecting 145,000 acres will cause a cheat-grass invasion and fragment the range for the benefit of livestock in what Nevada wildlife officials call “essential and irreplaceable Greater sage-grouse habitat.” Sage grouse mainly eat sagebrush, while nonnative cheat grass has been blamed for fueling major wildfires across the West. BLM spokeswoman JoLynn Worley said the agency has a policy of not commenting on lawsuits. BLM officials have said their watershed restoration plan for Cave and Lake valleys is designed to reduce the potential for major wildfires and to improve habitat for sage grouse and other wildlife over the long run...more