WINNEMUCCA - "Looking at the turnout in the room, I guess I'm not the only one that's not too happy with the way this sage grouse plan is going," said Nevada Republican Sen. Pete Goicoechea on Jan. 16 in Winnemucca.
He made the observation as he surveyed the overflowing meeting room at the Humboldt County Courthouse. Goicoechea organized the meeting and contacted his fellow Nevada senators and assemblymen, asking them to travel to Winnemucca to talk about the proposed threatened or endangered species listing of the sage grouse. He also invited the members of Nevada's 17 county commissions to attend, as well as other interested people.
Goicoechea said his goal was to develop consensus in three areas:
- A response to the BLM and Forest Service's draft environmental impact statement;
- Steps Nevada's congressional delegation should take in relation to the proposed listing;
- What the state is willing to do if the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lists the bird as threatened or endangered.
He said afterward he believes the meeting was successful in developing a united front in all three areas.
"I believe what was said at the meeting will send a message to our congressional delegation and other elected officials that if the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service goes ahead with listing the sage grouse as threatened or endangered after all the work that's been done on the Nevada Plan, after all the work that's been done on the Governor's Sagebrush Ecosystem Council, after the positive work on conservation projects and habitat protection, we will take it to court," said Goicoechea.
"I am as frustrated as the rest of you in the room;" said Goicoechea, "I don't know how we can take a bird that we regulate and hunt as a game bird in this state and talk about listing it."
He added, "We have to position this state that at the end of the day we can say, NO."
In answer to the question of where the money will come from for a lawsuit, Goicoechea said, "We have 128 attorneys in the Legislative Counsel Bureau, an Attorney General and a governor who has been a federal judge; surely we can find someone already on the state's payroll who can do this."
Goicoechea's statements appeared to meet with approval from the majority of the approximately 130 people who responded to his invitation to meet in Winnemucca.
No one at the meeting spoke in favor of listing the sage grouse.
Jake Tibbets, Eureka County Natural Resources manager, outlined the path of the decision regarding listing sage grouse as threatened or endangered.
Tibbets said the deadlines the agencies are working under started with a lawsuit filed against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service by groups such as Western Watersheds, Friends of the Sierra, Defenders of Wildlife and the Centers for Biological Diversity. Tibbets said in a settlement agreement that was reached "behind closed doors," USFWS agreed to a time frame ending in 2015 for a final decision on listing the bird.
One of the reasons USFWS has given as justification for listing the sage grouse was what was termed "A lack of regulatory authority" in BLM and Forest Service Resource Management Plans to protect the bird and its habitat. "To address that, BLM and U.S. Forest Service were pushed into this relatively short time frame to rewrite the resource management plans across 11 western states with a focus on outlining specific provisions to protect both the sage grouse and its sagebrush ecosystem habitat." Tibbets said.
"We can't change where we are; we can disagree with it; but we can't change it. We have an important Draft Environmental Impact Statement in front of us that will amend the resource management plans of every BLM district and every forest, in Nevada, and the comment period ends Jan. 29.
"Whether the bird is listed or not, we will be stuck with the EIS and the changes to the land use plans." Tibbets advised grazing permittees and others who have rights on the range land to send comment outlining their rights and their plans for continuing use because the federal agencies are prohibited from impacting existing rights.
"If you do not come to the table and provide substantive, meaningful comment, you foreclose your opportunity to participate in those future processes that come after the EIS," Tibbets said.
"Whether it's a legal challenge or any other action, you have to make constructive public comment seeking very specific changes to the EIS now in order to keep a seat at the table."
Consistency review requires BLM, Forest Service or any other federal agency to be consistent with officially approved or adopted resource-related plans. He advised those commenting on the EIS to have their comments adopted through their local government, by their county commissioners so the policies moving forward are actually county policies.
In addition to the public comment period on the draft EIS, the governor is given a 60-day period to identify and notify federal agencies of anything in the document that conflicts with existing land use plans and provide recommendations to the state BLM and Forest Service director. If the state directors do not to make the governor's recommendations part of the EIS, the governor can appeal directly to the director of the BLM.
The governor's representative asked those who are preparing comments on critical issues in the EIS to send a copy of their comments to the governor's office.
After the BLM and Forest Service put forward the final EIS in September, there will be one more 60-day comment period. The EIS will then go to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
USFWS will review the EIS and land use plans and determine whether the BLM and Forest Service plans adequately protect habitat and conserve the sage grouse. The next step will be a Record of Decision on whether the sage grouse will be listed as threatened or endangered.
A number of those who spoke said they believed that no matter what comments or efforts are made, the sage grouse will be listed as endangered.
Pershing, Humboldt, and Lander counties' Assemblyman, Ira Hansen, summed up those feelings, saying, "I'm skeptical about the process. In spite of all this effort, this isn't about the birds, this is about power, this is about the federal government taking more and more control over the last vestiges of our state's rights.
"So, long term, that's what I'm wondering, 'Does Nevada have the guts to do what I think we're going to have to do and that's slug it out in the courts.'"[[In-content Ad]]
