Defenders of Wildlife Blog

The U.S. Forest Service released today its final forest-planning rule, which will guide the management of 193 million acres of national forests and grasslands across the country.

The following is a statement from Jamie Rappaport Clark, president and CEO of Defenders of Wildlife:

“The Obama administration has made a very strong commitment to wildlife and land conservation with the release of its final forest-planning rule. The forest policy charts a new course to conserve and restore the health and integrity of these lands and waters, and now the hard work for implementing the rule begins today. Moving forward, it will be critical for the Forest Service to make this vision a reality as it issues implementation policies and begins writing forest plans. Defenders of Wildlife is committed to working with the Forest Service as it transforms its stewardship and wildlife conservation obligations to ensure that our nation’s forests, wildlife and waters are protected for generations to come.”

Sage grouse

BREAKING: Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management to update land-use plans with sage grouse protections

WASHINGTON—The Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service will update their land-use plans, which outline areas open to development and those that should be protected, to include conservation measures for imperiled sage grouse, the Interior Department announced today.

The federal agencies plan to take a comprehensive approach in responding to the multiple threats to the sage grouse across the western U.S., looking for ways to conserve the species and coordinate habitat conservation across large swaths of land spanning both agencies’ boundaries.

RELATED: Read more about this announcement on Defenders’ experts blog, dotWild.

The greater sage grouse has disappeared from almost half of its former range, and the population has declined by more than half since the late 1960s. Habitat loss is the main threat to the sage grouse’s survival, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Conserving the sage grouse and the habitat it depends on is of critical importance to the western way of life. – Peter Nelson

Defenders of Wildlife is encouraged by the Obama administration’s broad scale approach to sage grouse conservation, says Defenders’ federal lands program director Peter Nelson, and will work with the agencies, states and other stakeholders to ensure that it results in a science-based, comprehensive plan to protect the species from extinction.

“Conserving the sage grouse and the habitat it depends on is of critical importance to the western way of life,” he says. “We’re encouraged by the Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service’s plan to put in place essential protections for sage grouse and to coordinate their conservation measures across the region. We’re counting on the Obama administration to put forward a smart, scientifically-sound and coordinated strategy for conserving the species and its habitat – one that allows for responsible land use and development while protecting wildlife and public lands for future generations of Americans.”