Sage grouse in southwestern Montana. Photo: Richard Prodgers.

Greater sage grouse occupied more than 460,000 square miles across 13 Western states, including Montana, and three Canadian provinces before European settlement in the 1800s. But since that time, sagebrush ecosystems have been destroyed, fragmented, and degraded. Now there are so few pristine and intact sagebrush ecosystems their population has been in a continuous and precipitous decline across their historic range as well as here in Montana, the population has plummeted by 31% — from 70,346 to 48,783 — in just the last three years, which is why the Alliance is going to court to stop this habitat-destroying project.

Proposed project located in prime sage grouse habitat

The project is located in the 367,665 acre Grasshopper Watershed west of Dillon, in southwest Montana. This watershed contains some of the best habitat for sage grouse in Montana, yet the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) wants to funnel existing springs on public land into new water tanks for cattle, which will promote even more widespread grazing and negatively impact this excellent remaining sage grouse habitat.

Why livestock are bad for sage grouse

Livestock grazing and grazing-related infrastructure are some of the most significant threats to sage grouse and sagebrush habitats. Cattle consume........

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