MATT JOYCE Associated Press writer | Posted: Thursday, September 18, 2008 12:00 am
CHEYENNE - The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission has decided against implementing rules for sage grouse farming.
But it also wants to know whether it can discount a legislative directive to create a framework for sage-grouse farming in the state.
The Game and Fish Department developed rules for sage grouse farming over the summer and presented them to commissioners last week in Casper. The commission said Wednesday that it's seeking the Wyoming Attorney General's opinion on whether it can take no action on the rules.
The commissioners said they didn't think raising sage grouse in captivity would enhance the bird's population, said Eric Keszler, a commission spokesman. Commissioners were also concerned about a lack of funding to implement the new regulations.
"There's no evidence that if you raise sage grouse and then release them that they'll reproduce and survive in the long term," Keszler said.
The Legislature, in an attachment to the 2008 budget bill, directed Game and Fish to develop regulations to allow private bird farms to raise native sage grouse for release. The popular game bird is found mostly on the sagebrush plains and high desert in Wyoming, as well as in other Western states.
Biologists say the number of the chicken-like birds has been declining because of factors including long-term drought, West Nile virus and habitat destruction associated with energy development. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is currently studying whether the bird should be granted federal protections.
The Game and Fish Department held a series of meetings around the state this summer, and nearly all public comment was against the sage grouse farming rules, Keszler said.
He said the commission will review its options after hearing back from the Attorney General's office.
Brian Rutledge, executive director of Audubon Wyoming, said his group submitted comments and attended hearings during the department's planning process. The group is not opposed to the concept of raising sage grouse in captivity, but he said he feared Wyoming's effort would do more harm than good to the species.
"Nobody in the world is breeding grouse successfully, not in any replicable method," Rutledge said. "It needs planning, it needs time."
Rutledge pointed to the disease risks of raising grouse in captivity with other birds and then releasing them into the wild. He said untrained bird farmers could also do great harm to native sage grouse populations under rules allowing them to gather eggs from the wild.
"Imagine the destructive nature and the interference in a breeding season when we send amateurs out to overturn every bush in the area looking for grouse eggs," he said.
Tom Christiansen, sage grouse program coordinator with the Game and Fish Department, said the space and mating requirements of sage grouse haven't proved to be conducive to captive rearing.
Under the department's proposed regulations, bird farms would have to apply to their district game warden for a license to raise sage grouse. Farms would have to specify how the birds would be used, such as for hunting, release or sale.
The farms would have to remain disease free and report any disease detection to the department. Before their release into the wild, the grouse would have to be held in a separate holding pen for 30 days and any bird that died during that period would be sent to the Wyoming State Veterinary Lab for necropsy.
Farms would not be allowed to import sage grouse from outside Wyoming. Rather, license holders would be limited to collecting 75 sage grouse eggs per year from April 25 to May 15. License holders would be limited to collecting eggs for three consecutive years to establish a captive flock.
When releasing the birds for hunting, farmers would not be allowed to release the birds in an area that is already occupied by sage grouse because of disease and genetic concerns.