Protections for western bird will get new look under Biden

By MATTHEW BROWN
Associated Press

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The Biden administration is considering new measures to protect a bird species once found across much of the U.S. West. The ground-dwelling bird called the greater sage grouse suffered drastic declines in recent decades due to oil and gas drilling, grazing and other human pressures. Friday’s announcement of a range-wide evaluation of the bird’s habitat comes after the Trump administration tried to scale back conservation efforts adopted by federal agencies in 2015. A court blocked the Trump era changes. Industry groups have resisted curbs on drilling around sage grouse breeding areas. Some environmentalists insisted that the 2015 plans didn’t go far enough.