Saving Sage Grouse: A misplaced blame game on Nevada's predators
Posted December 8, 2009 in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
Recently, I wrote about the ecological importance of predators to their ecosystems and why NRDC is concerned with the practices of the predator control program administered by Wildlife Services. As this agency is part of the US Department of Agriculture, most of its control actions are designed to aid the agricultural sector. For example, badgers may be removed for digging holes and causing damage to cropland. And wolves and coyotes are routinely killed for preying on livestock.
We were surprised, however, to learn recently that Wildlife Services could soon be helping the state of Nevada eliminate predators for the purpose of boosting deer herds (for recreational sport hunting) and sage grouse (Hat tip: Ralph Maughan's Wildlife News). The Nevada Wildlife Commission is proposing to kill mountain lions, coyotes, badgers, skunks and ravens in an effort to increase the number of deer and sage grouse in certain counties within the state.
The greater sage grouse is an iconic species in the western states whose numbers have been declining primarily due to habitat loss and energy development. They could certainly use some help – the only thing is that predators are not the problem. Even if they were, the Commission’s intentions in deploying predator control are not to help the sage grouse. In fact, their intentions are quite the opposite.
The Nevada Wildlife Commission is proposing to temporarily boost sage grouse numbers (through predator control) to prevent the bird from receiving endangered species protections which the Commission fears would obstruct the development and use of public lands. A recent news article paraphrases the vice-chairman of the Nevada Wildlife Commission (who is also a sportsman’s representative) as saying, “Protecting sage grouse from predators could prove critical to prevent (endangered species) listing of the bird and resulting widespread impacts across Nevada, Raine said. ‘It could affect everything on public land if this listing were to happen,’ Raine said. ‘It could hurt everything.’”
If the proposal is approved, Wildlife Services would be in the business of eliminating predators to ultimately endanger an already imperiled species by artificially boosting their numbers (while not addressing the actual threats to the sage grouse) in an effort to keep the bird from receiving the wildlife protections that it may need – not to mention catering to the special interests of hunting groups at the expense of natural predators and the ecosystem services that they provide.
While the state of Nevada would likely foot much of the bill for these actions, Wildlife Services is a federal agency. It is largely funded through taxpayer money – that’s right – yours and mine. Is this how we want to put our dollars to work?
Photo Credit: US Fish and Wildlife Service
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Comments
John Edward — Dec 8 2009 05:18 PM
In states like Nevada, hunting groups are hardly a "special interest." Moreover, it's hunters who provide the revenue for conservation and habitat work, for sage grouse and other species. And if the deer herd is increased a bit, it will mean more hunters and more revenue for habitat...I worry about habitat loss from energy development as much, or more than you do. But name me one form of energy extraction that doesn't affect the environment. Even windmills mean roads, land clearing, power lines, etc. ... We can't depend on oil, foreign or otherwise, forever. I agree, it's a waste to let Wildlife Services cull the predators. Let hunters do it, and reap the benefit of the fees they pay...Conservation is not free, and nobody wants to pay for it but hunters...