Endangered Greater sage-grouse population on the rise in SK and AB

Wednesday, June 03, 2015

Southwest Booster

Conservation groups in western Canada are optimistic about an increased number of the endangered Greater sage-grouse this year.

In fact, the number of male Greater sage-grouses in Saskatchewan has increased 233% since 2014. In Alberta, the number of male birds increased 150% between 2014 and 2015. Saskatchewan and Alberta both showed the highest growth rate in either province in at least 20 years.

“This is a strong endorsement for federal intervention under the Species at Risk Act where provincial inaction and poor provincial endangered species laws allow endangered wildlife to reach a crisis,” said Ecojustice lawyer Melissa Gorrie. “The emergency order is doing what it should, protecting sage-grouse habitat from more industrialization and promoting more on-the-ground action to restore damaged lands.”

The sharp increase in numbers in 2015 is attributed to climatic factors and as a result of the federal emergency protection order enacted to protect the Greater sage-grouse. The emergency order was announced in December 2013, after a lengthy court battle between the Alberta Wilderness Association, Wilderness Committee, Nature Saskatchewan, and Grasslands Naturalists, and the federal government.

Between 1988 and 2006, nearly 90% of Canada’s Greater sage-grouse population died off. The Greater sage-grouse is the largest grouse in North America, and it inhabits the western United States, southern Alberta, and southern Saskatchewan.

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Photo Credit: Grambo Images

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