American Oil and Gas Reporter - September 2017 - 105

ConventionCoverage: Petroleum Association of Wyoming

Wyoming Maintains Example
Of Sage Grouse Success
By Dan Larson
Special Correspondent

CASPER, WY.-Wyoming is leading
the way in sorting through the complex
and controversial issue of species management for the greater sage grouse, and
regulators around the country are recognizing the effort, reported speakers at the
Petroleum Association of Wyoming annual
convention.
The event, held Aug. 15-16 at the
Ramkota Hotel in Casper, highlighted
the state's progress in developing a sage
grouse management plan and the challenges it still faces in ironing out the associated complications, they said.
The ongoing controversy surrounding
management of sage grouse protections
was discussed throughout the convention,
with several speakers recounting their
experiences both with developing policy
and in dealing with views of those unfamiliar with the issue.
Bob Budd, executive director of the
state Wildlife and Natural Resource
Trust, introduced himself at PAW's Public Lands Committee session by recalling
his first sage grouse experiences, which
came in 1999 through a volunteer position
on an ad hoc committee.
Today, he said, it remains a challenge
to discuss why sage grouse management
policy should exceed the goal of merely
preventing the bird's populations from
dropping below a certain level.
"People always want an answer to
'how many birds are there?' It is tough
for them to understand that bird populations change from year to year," Budd
stated. "We have been counting males
since the 1960s, so it is not that we
don't have the numbers, it is how those
numbers are interpreted and used."
Budd noted that the executive order
issued by Governor Matt Mead made it
clear that management plans that relied
exclusively on population counts were
the wrong approach. "If you go to a
number metric, you are chasing that
number forever and when another state
sees a population decline, we pay the
price here. That is not in the interest of
the bird or the state," he considered.

Up To States
Habitat is the key to a successful sage
grouse management plan, Budd suggested.
He noted that when Mead expressed
concern over an early pronouncement by
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, some media
reports said western governors opposed
the Trump administration's new direction.
"Once the bird was not listed as endangered
two years ago, management of its protection fell to the states," Budd noted. "As a
nonfederal species, it is treated the same
as deer. No one is telling any state how
many mule deer it has to maintain."
After receiving feedback from the 11
states that count sage grouse as a resident
species, Zinke ordered a review of the
Obama-era sage grouse management plan
that gave states a measure of flexibility
to consider economic issues as they work
to protect habitat, Budd recounted. As a
member of the group that provided Department of Interior officials with eight
key considerations for a federal management plan, Budd said an emphasis on
habitat core areas numbered among those

The Endangered Species Act can be improved in a number of ways, including a
better emphasis on the species that face
the most danger, considers Wyoming
Governor Matt Mead. He told PAW that
smart changes would help make the law
more effective for imperiled species and
work better for many of the human activities that affect them.

recommendations, he said.
"It was important they understood that
there must be a single map of bird habitat
core areas," he said. "One version of the
core area map added tens of thousands
of male birds and released tens of thousands of acres where there were no birds.
An earlier map showed very different
boundaries. We tried to convince them
that a plan had to have a single map."
According to Budd, other issues affecting the oil and gas industry included
the need for uniform descriptions of core
and noncore areas and the importance of
allowing states to develop their own habitat
mitigation compensation programs.
Budd noted that the states and other
interested parties had until Oct. 7 to respond to DOI's latest proposal.

Debits and Credits
A program established in Wyoming
to allow companies to secure credits for
long-term sage grouse habitat protection
has generated new questions for operators,
reported Ryan Lance, from Sweetwater
River Conservancy. He indicated
Wyoming's program appeared to be far
ahead of similar efforts in other states.
"For federal drilling decisions to withstand legal and other scrutiny, BLM and
the state must ensure that project impacts
are avoided, minimized and, where necessary, mitigated," Lance noted. "Habitat
reclamation has proven somewhat difficult
and takes quite a long time in sage grouse
habitat, so if your plan disturbs important
sage grouse habitats, the state has been deliberate about spelling out compensatory
mitigation requirements-largely to ensure
that the sage grouse stays off the Endangered
Species Act list."
The processes for determining a debit
ratio for disturbing core habitat, to a
credit for preserving undisturbed habitat,
remain unclear and subject to interpretation, mainly because of the uncertainty
surrounding federal mitigation policy
Lance said.
"The bank will continue to push for
offset ratios that are scientifically defensible but still recognize that, in order for
capital to flow to Wyoming for drilling
SEPTEMBER 2017 105

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