LANDER - Even if this fall's sage grouse hunting season were twice as long as last year's, and had higher daily bag limits, it wouldn't be harmful to sage grouse populations in the long term, an official with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department said.

Nonetheless, largely in response to public feedback, Game and Fish field biologists are recommending the Cowboy State stick to an 11-day hunting season for 2008 - with regulations nearly identical to those ultimately implemented in 2007.

Although the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is in the process of determining whether sage grouse should be protected under the federal Endangered Species Act, biologists, government officials and conservationists all seem to agree that potential threats to the long-term survival of the species have almost everything to do with habitat, and almost nothing to do with well-regulated hunting.

"Hunting and sage grouse are compatible," said Tom Christiansen, the Game and Fish Department's program coordinator for sage grouse. "Hunting sage grouse results in some dead birds that will be replaced through reproduction next year, as long as there is good habitat."

An important consideration when establishing a hunt for the birds is timing, Christiansen said. In the mid-1990s, Game and Fish moved the sage grouse hunting season from early to late September, which has proven to be more appropriate, he said, and has reduced the harvest.

"You don't want to hunt them in late August or early September, when they're concentrated on water sources and around vegetation associated with wet areas," Christiansen said. "Later in September the chicks are bolder and more independent, not tied to the hen so much. And as it gets cooler in the fall, the chicks and hens start dispersing out into the sagebrush."

Toward the end of September, the grouse begin a diet switch from green vegetation to sage, which makes the population less concentrated, he said, and more difficult to find.

As a result, a well-regulated, late-September hunting season is not a threat to the population, Christiansen said - as long as the sage grouse habitat remains healthy.

"In most landscapes in Wyoming, sage grouse are doing quite well," he said. "The concerns are where human impacts are increasing, in terms of subdivisions and high-density energy development. You can have healthy sage grouse with a conservative hunting season. Conversely, you cannot have healthy sage grouse without good habitat."

Duane Short, a spokesman for the Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, said his organization agrees that preserving sage grouse habitat is the key to maintaining the bird's numbers. The alliance also agrees that regulated hunting is not a real threat to the species in the long term.

"The issue for us, in terms of sage grouse population, is the oil and gas industry," Short said. "The proliferation of drilling pads is encroaching on sage grouse range, and in many cases the leks, which are their breeding grounds. There are inadequate protections for the sage grouse in these areas. And they are extremely sensitive to disturbance."

If it weren't for the encroachment by oil and gas drilling operations, hunters would have many more opportunities to pursue the birds, Short said.

"We're not anti-hunting. We feel like the real issue at hand is the habitat, and the oil and gas drilling on it," he said.

Game and Fish biologists recommended a 20-day hunting season last year, but in an unprecedented move, the director of the department, Terry Cleveland, overruled the recommendation and decided to retain the 11-day period, which has been the norm in recent years.

In this year's proposal, the sage grouse program team wrote that a 21-day season, with daily bag limits of two to three birds, in most parts of the state, would be "biologically justifiable." But it scaled back its recommendation this year because of public feedback and widespread concern about the species, according to the proposal document.

"The Game and Fish Department's first concern is the science, and then it has to take into account public comment," Christiansen said. "Last year's recommendation was based exclusively on the biology, but the eventual season length was more conservative, tempered by the public comment. All of our hunting seasons are tempered by public input."

The 2008 proposal is similar in most respects to the regulations ultimately implemented last year. The most notable change is a slightly shorter season for the Powder River Basin, Christiansen said.

All the regional hunting seasons are consistent this year with local working group recommendations, he said.

Environment reporter Chris Merrill can be reached at chris.merrill@trib.com or at (307) 267-6722.