Public Comment

Secretary Zinke has opened the door to putting politics over science in order to undermine and undo one of the greatest collaborative conservation efforts in our nation's history. As a westerner, I am deeply concerned about this reopening of federal plans to protect the greater-sage grouse, which were forged over many years by multiple stakeholders. 

Western governors, ranchers, conservationists, industry groups and state wildlife agencies all came together to develop a truly bipartisan, collaborative conservation plan, which ultimately kept the greater sage-grouse off the Endangered Species List back in September 2015. Making significant changes that weaken the plan in any way would only increase the likelihood of the sage-grouse populations reaching such low levels that bird needs to be added to the Endangered Species List in the future an outcome nobody wants. 

The Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management must let the sage-grouse plans work. Any changes to the plan must be based on sound science and honor the bipartisan, collaborative conservation effort that has helped bring the bird back from the brink and keep it off the Endangered Species List.