Endangered Greater sage-grouse population on the rise in SK and AB
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.
Photo Credit: Grambo Images
