The Sage Grouse

Greater Sage-Grouse One

The name for this column is a fun double or triple pun:  the author is supposedly sage but inclined to eschew political correctness.  Nonetheless, the Greater Sage-grouse, Centrocercus urophasianus,  a big fat slow-flying bird (which in my opinion bears no more resemblance to chickens than plump pheasants or partridge) requires much serious analysis.

What and who am I to comment on Greater Sage-grouse?  Well, first I know how to properly hyphenate the name.

I have been a game bird hunter for many decades, but I decided five years ago to stop shooting sage-grouse.  Four reasons: First, I make enough money that I do not need to eat sage-grouse to survive; what a relief.  Second, they don’t taste very good; I can find a lot of ways to set a better table.  Third, they reproduce slowly and are under a lot of stress and why should I add to their stress level?  Fourth, the game and fish agencies allow shooting of hens during hunting season, a practice which is not allowed for the introduced Chinese Ring-necked pheasant; why do we protect pheasant hens and slaughter sage-grouse hens?

I bought an irrigated farm/ranch in central Montana, with a partner, and we jumped into a plan to pay for the ranch with cattle and improve sage-grouse and wildlife habitat at the same time.  My degree in botany and a few years of studying sage-grouse behavior as an amateur birder helped a little.  Not!  I was way over my head.

I learned a lot:

  1. It is very hard to keep a grazing tenant happy while fencing his cows out of the best creek bottom bird habitat.
  2. It is very hard to keep your partner who works for National Wildlife Federation happy while letting the grazing tenant actually graze the cows on the rest of the habitat.
  3. It is very difficult to get the organizations which espouse setting aside agricultural habitat for birds to actually put their money to use for such set-asides.
  4. There is nothing more fun than walking through an alfalfa meadow in August that did not get mowed, and seeing dozens of sage-grouse chicks and pheasants run around eating bugs and stuff.

Later, we must examine:

  • Industry impacts on sage-grouse
  • Overgrazing impacts on sage-grouse
  • BLM policies on grazing and sage-grouse
  • Sod-busting and sage-grouse

Leave a comment

WyoFile's goal is to provide readers with information and ideas that foster constructive conversations about the issues and opportunities our communities face. One small piece of how we do that is by offering a space below each story for readers to share perspectives, experiences and insights. For this to work, we need your help.

What we're looking for: 

  • Your real name — first and last. 
  • Direct responses to the article. Tell us how your experience relates to the story.
  • The truth. Share factual information that adds context to the reporting.
  • Thoughtful answers to questions raised by the reporting or other commenters.
  • Tips that could advance our reporting on the topic.
  • No more than three comments per story, including replies. 

What we block from our comments section, when we see it:

  • Pseudonyms. WyoFile stands behind everything we publish, and we expect commenters to do the same by using their real name.
  • Comments that are not directly relevant to the article. 
  • Demonstrably false claims, what-about-isms, references to debunked lines of rhetoric, professional political talking points or links to sites trafficking in misinformation.
  • Personal attacks, profanity, discriminatory language or threats.
  • Arguments with other commenters.

Other important things to know: 

  • Appearing in WyoFile’s comments section is a privilege, not a right or entitlement. 
  • We’re a small team and our first priority is reporting. Depending on what’s going on, comments may be moderated 24 to 48 hours from when they’re submitted — or even later. If you comment in the evening or on the weekend, please be patient. We’ll get to it when we’re back in the office.
  • We’re not interested in managing squeaky wheels, and even if we wanted to, we don't have time to address every single commenter’s grievance. 
  • Try as we might, we will make mistakes. We’ll fail to catch aliases, mistakenly allow folks to exceed the comment limit and occasionally miss false statements. If that’s going to upset you, it’s probably best to just stick with our journalism and avoid the comments section.
  • We don’t mediate disputes between commenters. If you have concerns about another commenter, please don’t bring them to us.

The bottom line:

If you repeatedly push the boundaries, make unreasonable demands, get caught lying or generally cause trouble, we will stop approving your comments — maybe forever. Such moderation decisions are not negotiable or subject to explanation. If civil and constructive conversation is not your goal, then our comments section is not for you. 

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *