The 2020 wildfire season has burned more than 8 million acres in the West, including some of the most important habitat for the Greater Sage-Grouse in Washington State. Ashley Ahearn visits a lek she’d seen in the spring with biologist Michael Schroeder to understand the scope of the
In the Red Desert of Wyoming, Erik Molvar takes us up close and personal with a Greater Sage-Grouse mating site, known as a lek. “Anybody who’s ever been to a singles bar will recognize this scene,” Erik says. “The males are puffing out their chests, strutting around, trying to catch the
Matt Holloran has been studying Greater Sage-Grouse for more than 20 years, assessing how oil and gas extraction affects them. His favorite lek, or mating site, is an important place for Matt. He and his wife met here doing research. They named their first daughter Sage. Over the years, he
Wilson Wewa, an elder of the Northern Paiute tribe of the Warm Springs Reservation in Oregon, remembers the first time he saw a sage-grouse lek … hearing their otherworldly sound. “As a little boy of about five or six years old, I got scared!” Wewa says. “I didn’t know what it was.” [Hear
Jordan Rabon and Tracey Johnson are researchers at Rinker Rock Creek Ranch in Idaho, and they study how this threatened bird interacts with cows. As part of their work, they capture and band the grouse, and they have an unusual way of gathering data. They use … a boombox. “It just kind of
Caleb McAdoo, Nevada Department of Wildlife biologist, takes us on a tour through disappearing sagebrush country. The Martin Fire, the biggest wildfire in Nevada state history, burned through 435,000 acres in 2018. After fires, sagebrush has to contend with a faster growing plant
There used to be millions of Greater Sage-Grouse across the West, but the birds’ numbers have been in decline since settlers arrived from the East. Today, scientists and environmentalists are sounding the alarm about the shrinking population, but they aren’t the first to do so. In 1916
Biologist Michael Schroeder and journalist Ashley Ahearn scour the freshly fallen snow for the footprints of Greater Sage-Grouse in rural Washington State. With fewer than 1,000 of the birds left in the state, they are a rare sight. Learn more about the history of the most controversial
During winter, the Greater Sage-Grouse is wholly reliant on its namesake species — sagebrush — for both shelter and for food. Scientists call this bird "sagebrush obligate," meaning it needs this plant to survive. In the spring, its diet shifts to insects and plants, as it gets ready for
The Gunnison Sage-Grouse is one of the rarest birds in the United States. It was only recently acknowledged as its own species, separate from the Greater Sage-Grouse. In November 2014, it was listed as "threatened" under the federal Endangered Species Act. The striking males are consummate
At a display area, known as a lek, the male Greater Sage-Grouse perform for mating rights, while the smaller females look on. Today, the Greater Sage-Grouse is seriously endangered, its fate intertwined with the loss of sage habitat. Millions of acres have been converted to cropland, and
When it comes to saving endangered species, habitat is nearly always critical. For this Greater Sage-Grouse, a bird now endangered in parts of its range, it comes down to preserving stands of healthy sagebrush. And essential to saving sage habitat is the cooperation of landowners. Recently
