BLM partners with sage-grouse advocates, provides habitat improvements

WALDEN, Colo. – The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Kremmling Field Office joined forces with Wildlands Restoration Volunteers (WRV), Ducks Unlimited, Colorado State Land Board, and Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) to conserve and restore sagebrush habitat for Greater Sage-Grouse and other wildlife in North Park, east of Walden in Jackson County June 25-27.

Volunteers participated in the three-day long project which took over 18 months to plan.

“Permitting and design work had to be planned over a year in advance,” said Kremmling Field Office Wildlife Biologist Tifany Rubalcaba who spearheaded the project. “Ducks Unlimited purchased the rocks used to assemble one rock dams (ORDs), Zuni Bowls, and rock mulch, the Colorado State Land Board and BLM provided the design work, WRV provided a majority of the volunteers – it was not only me, but so many others that helped make this weekend a success.”

Volunteers constructed ORDs, Zuni Bowls, and rock mulch arrangements to serve as low grade control structures, that are built with a single layer of rock placed on stream bed channels, to stabilize the channel bed by slowing the flow of water, capturing sediment, and gradually raising the bed level over time.

“This process allows the water to spread out creating sheeting, which facilitates wet meadow restoration and enhances brood rearing habitat for Greater Sage-Grouse and other wildlife,” said Wildlands Restoration Volunteer Project Manager Geoffrey May.

More than 1.8 million acres of Colorado’s Greater Sage-Grouse habitat is on BLM lands in the Northwest District. Sage-Grouse require large contiguous areas of sagebrush with a diversity of grasses and a healthy wetland to feed their young in the summer and provide for cover and food in the fall and winter.

For more information on Colorado Sage-Grouse, please visit https://www.blm.gov/programs/fish-and-wildlife/sage-grouse.

The BLM is committed to implementing beneficial habitat management actions on public lands by restoring, maintaining, and enhancing habitat productivity and quality.