An interesting thing happened in Wyoming (of all places) the other day. A member of the state’s Sage Grouse Implementation Team asked whether sage-grouse hunting in that state makes sense anymore. He noted that sage-grouse hunters killed nearly 900 sage-grouse hens the year before.
Sage-grouse have suffered a well-known, well-documented long-term decline in numbers across its range. Over the past 10 years, western states voluntarily put together conservation plans to help the bird. Their efforts were successful in that the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) decided in 2015 that sage-grouse did not require listing under the Endangered Species Act.
Here in Nevada, Governor Sandoval and the Nevada Legislature established the Nevada Sagebrush Ecosystem Program (NSEP) in 2012-2013 as part of the conservation effort by western states. While preservation and protection of our critical sagebrush ecosystem was its charge and its focus, NSEP’s purpose was to do what was needed to fend off ESA listing of sage-grouse for fear of unpleasant restrictions on uses of Nevada’s expansive public lands should listing occur.
Do we hunt sage-grouse in Nevada?
Yes.