Close up of greater sage grouse. Photo by Bob Wick, BLM.

Greater Sage-grouse

The BLM manages the largest single share of greater sage-grouse habitat in the United States – nearly 67 million of 145 million acres total. These same lands sustain Western rural economies built on outdoor recreation, ranching, farming, energy development and small businesses, and are critical for more than 350 other wildlife species – including pronghorn, mule deer and the pygmy rabbit. They are also the headwaters for the West's major river systems. 

For decades, federal, state and private land managers have worked to conserve and restore the sagebrush ecosystem, with federal agencies managing habitat on the lands whose surface they administer and states managing and monitoring wildlife populations.
 

Moving forward to conserve habitat 

The greater sage-grouse is in sharp decline. Populations once in the millions now number fewer than 800,000, largely due to habitat loss exacerbated by climate change effects, such as drought, increasing wildfires and the spread of invasive species. 

We have announced a proposal to strengthen greater sage-grouse protections on public lands, informed by the best-available science and input from local, state and federal partners. Alternatives for updating our sage-grouse habitat management plans build on the most successful components of the plans that were adopted in 2015 and revised in 2019. 
 

The draft environmental impact statement which analyzes the potential effects of six proposed alternatives was published on March 15, 2024. We are currently reviewing comments submitted during the 90-day comment period that ended on June 13, 2024. 


Even as we engage in planning, the BLM continues to invest in habitat treatments, to restore critical areas and make remaining habitat more resilient to various stressors and threats. 

In addition, we continue analyzing the environmental effects of withdrawing sagebrush focal areas (SFAs) from mineral location and entry using continued engagement with stakeholders and the best available science. 
 

 

Photo of oil and gas rig in north dakota

Using and sustaining sagebrush lands

Plans for managing greater sage-grouse habitat on public lands work to sustainably balance conservation with other authorized uses, including oil & gas development.
two people taking vegetation measurements in sagebrush habitat

Objectives, measures & monitoring

Plans for managing greater sage-grouse habitat on public lands set objectives for vegetation conditions, describe management tools to balance conservation with other uses and establish thresholds for adaptive management.
Young sage-grouse chicks huddle in the shade of sagebrush

In Balance: Range-wide consistency & Local flexibility

Current planning uses the latest data from states and new science to adjust the boundaries of habitat management areas (HMAs) on nearly 67 million acres of greater sage-grouse habitat on BLM-managed public lands.
a sage-grouse chick huddles near a wildflower

Balancing acts : Risks & rewards

Healthy habitat can shield sage-grouse from predators like badgers, coyotes and raptors, but grouse are not fully adapted to foxes, skunks and ravens which follow human activity into sagebrush areas.

Habitat in Season 

Scarlet globemallow blooms in sage-steppe, southwest Wyoming
In summer, sage-grouse eat the leaves and flowers of plants like the scarlet globemallow, which bloom under taller sagebrush. Insects and spiders also nourish adult grouse and growing chicks hatched this spring.
USFWS / Tom Koerner