One Million Acres Saved for Sage Grouse
Litigation - Article Series from All-Creatures.org Articles Archive

FROM

Center for Biological Diversity
November 2018

Obeying a court order, the feds had to pull more than a million acres of grouse habitat from oil and gas lease auctions next month.

Good news for greater sage grouse, the West's "dancing birds." Obeying a court order, the feds had to pull more than a million acres of grouse habitat from oil and gas lease auctions next month. The order followed a lawsuit by the Center for Biological Diversity and allies.

The auctions were planned under a Trump policy curtailing public participation in leasing decisions on public lands. In September a judge halted use of that policy for future leases across sage grouse habitat in 11 western states. The iconic birds have lost about 95 percent of their population; oil and gas development threatens the species' existence.

"We're pleased the Bureau of Land Management's protecting large swaths of greater sage grouse habitat, at least temporarily," said the Center's Taylor McKinnon. "But Trump's people are doing all they can to put millions of acres of public lands into the fossil fuel industry's hands. This fight's far from over."

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