REGINA — Conservationists in Canada say a decision by the U.S. government not to grant federal protections to the greater sage grouse doesn't mean the iconic prairie bird is out of danger.
The U.S. Interior Department said Tuesday that the greater sage grouse does not need federal protections across its 11-state Western range. The department says some limits have been put on development that will protect its habitat.
The greater sage grouse is considered endangered in Canada where there are fewer than 140 birds left in southern Alberta and Saskatchewan.
"Obviously, the American assessment has no affect on the Canadian status because they're looked at independently and the Canadian situation in general is just far more dire because we're on the very edge of the range and the numbers that we have in Canada are far lower than the states," said Axel Moehrenschlager, director of conservation and science at the Calgary Zoo.
Moehrenschlager said there are "huge pressures" on the greater sage grouse that might continue its decline.
Models from the Calgary Zoo have suggested current reproduction and survival rates are too low to sustain the wild population in Canada and extinction is likely within two to five years if drastic action isn't taken.
The Calgary Zoo has launched a breeding program. The Canadian government also issued an emergency protection order in late 2013 to restrict primarily industrial development on nearly 1,700 square kilometres of Crown land to protect the bird's habitat.
Cliff Wallis with the Alberta Wilderness Association has been watching the situation in the U.S. with interest because he's trying to protect the bird in Canada. The association was one of several groups that took the Canadian government to court in a case that led to the protection order.
Wallis said he appreciates that the U.S. government has been trying to protect the sage grouse while working with landowners, but more needs to be done.
"It's a huge effort because they want to prevent (the endangered) listing because they know that if they don't do the right thing, it's going to constrain resource development and other things, so they're trying to get it right," Wallis said in a phone interview from Calgary.
"Whether or not they get listed is, in our view, not as relevant as getting things done on the ground," he added.
Greater sage grouse once numbered in the millions in the United States. Over the last century, the bird lost roughly half its habitat to development, livestock grazing and an invasive grass that's encouraging wildfires in the Great Basin of Nevada and adjoining states. An estimated 200,000 to 500,000 birds now occupy sagebrush habitat spanning 11 states.
