Trump Administration Reviewing Sage Grouse Plans

Earlier this week, Interior Department Secretary Ryan Zinke announced the Trump administration would review a plan to protect sage grouse in western states.  Plans to protect sage grouse have met opposition by industry and farm groups along the way, which argue the rules go too far.  Zinke added he assembled a review team comprised of scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey, Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to study the plan.

The Washington Post reports the two-month review will take into consideration issues that concern some western politicians: jobs and energy development, some of the very things that scientists say led to the bird’s decline.  Zinke’s predecessor, Sally Jewell, defended the existing management plan for sage grouse stemming from the Obama Administration.  Jewell said the rules were "designed to be very flexible and to allow the states and the federal land management agencies to work together" on both energy development and conservation.

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