How Endangered Species' Worship Harms Economic Growth
"The largest and most complex landscape-scale land management planning effort in U.S. history" is how the Department of Interior describes its conservation efforts for the greater sage grouse, a chicken-like bird. The undertaking spans 11 states, from North Dakota to California, and impacts 165 million acres of land.
Today the the Interior Department is expected to announce the critical decision of whether or not to propose listing the greater sage grouse as an endangered species. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval, Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead and Montana Gov. Steve Bullock are among the officials expected at the announcement event at Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge today. Those governors have urged the federal government not to list the bird as endangered, so the guest list may suggest which way they are leaning. But everyone will be waiting for the announcement and reading the fine print of the plans.
Across the West, private landowners have been extremely anxious that they may soon be subjected to punitive regulations that could limit or prevent them from ranching, building on-or even changing-their own properties, and face intrusive inspections by federal officials that can bring steep fines with them. Oil, gas and mining businesses are similarly concerned that sage grouse-related land-use restrictions could shut down and prevent projects across the region. "If the greater sage grouse is listed, federal restrictions could lock up tens of millions of acres, potentially costing the region billions of dollars in lost tax revenues and economic activity from development and recreation," the National Audubon Society finds.
The Western Energy Alliance estimates listing the sage grouse as endangered could cause the loss of up to 18,000 oil and gas-related jobs and cost local economies $5.5 billion in annual lost revenues, earnings, economic output and taxes.
In addition to crushing many rural areas that are largely dependent on oil, gas, mining and ranching, the federal government's top-down, penalty-based approach hurts long-term conservation prospects. The sage grouse's population declined between the 1950s and 1990s, stabilized and then started growing over the past decade. A report by the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies found the sage grouse population is now almost 425,000, and since 2005 it has increased at an encouraging annual rate of just less than one percent. The sage grouse is not, by any reasonable standard, endangered or threatened.
The sage grouse's increased population is due to favorable weather conditions and a cooperative approach to conservation that brought together states, counties, landowners, conservation and energy industry groups, and universities. In 2011, Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead, a Republican, and Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat, formed the Sage Grouse Task Force to coordinate conservation efforts and avert a listing. At least 7 million acres have already been conserved through habitat improvements and protections carried out by states, the private sector and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Sage Grouse Initiative, which the department characterizes as "a new paradigm for conserving at-risk wildlife that works through voluntary cooperation, incentives, and community support."
This success offers a stark contrast to the Interior Department's typical penalty-based approach to endangered species, which creates enormous disincentives for landowners, states and businesses to protect the greater sage grouse and its habitat. Ranchers in Colorado, fearing the bird would be listed, have reportedly been using herbicides to destroy habitat so sage grouse won't be found on their lands and they could avoid federal land-use restrictions if the bird is listed as endangered.
Last year, Gov. Hickenlooper, a Democrat, felt he had no other option but to sue the Obama administration after it listed the Gunnison sage grouse, a cousin of the greater sage grouse as "threatened." The Gunnison is only found in small parts of Colorado and Utah. The governor knows federal penalty-based measures for the greater sage grouse would come with much more dire economic and environmental consequences for Colorado and 10 other states. It would also threaten to unravel the successful conservation efforts that have helped the sage grouse population increase over the past decade.
The Interior Department's approach "is driven by fear," John Swartout, Gov. Hickenlooper's senior adviser, told the Denver Post. "If you list the thing [the greater sage grouse], the partnerships go away."
"We firmly believe that state-led efforts are the most effective way to protect and conserve the greater sage grouse and its habitat," Gov. Hickenlooper said. "Conversely, a decision by the federal government to list the greater sage grouse under the Endangered Species Act would have a significant and detrimental economic impact to the state, as well as threaten the very state-led partnerships that are working to protect the species."
The Interior Department can either continue down its typical penalty-based path, undoing these successful conservation efforts, or it can allow voluntary partnerships to continue protecting the sage grouse, property rights and the economy. The choice seems clear and hopefully today's announcement will signal the beginning of a more cooperative approach to conservation and protecting wildlife.
