Mountain Musing

mountain musing

Other than by watching nature films, I've never viewed sage grouse mating rituals. Going by the celluloids, it must be some drama the males put on during their warm-ups to dominance bouts to see just who is the top cock at the lek. (Leks are regular gathering places for the big ground-dwelling birds who engage in elaborate mating dances.)

It's widely recognized that sage grouse, as a species, is in trouble. Faced with declining habitats caused, in part, by range overgrazing, rampant wildfires, natural vegetative succession, and possibly energy development, the big birds have been short-listed for possible Endangered Species consideration.

But there may be a brighter light on their horizon. Over in Oregon, ranchers and state and federal agencies have banded together to consider methods to help the grouse and, at the same time, avoid the final restrictive "listing" step.

Hallelujah! It's a wonderful development that interested (and affected) parties are coming together to work on solutions to a declining wildlife problem BEFORE the problem becomes acute to species survival. It's a proactive development instead of a reactive one! Avoiding "critical mass" species declines is positive, benefitting everyone. But most of all the greatest benefit is to the creatures themselves, presently on a fast track to extinction.

The Endangered Species Act has always been a last resort to save particular plants and animals about to vanish from our world. Frankly it's high time we jumped ahead of the curve to avoid endangering any more of our wildlife (and our wildlands) heritage.

"Pro-acting" before creatures are at risk certainly qualifies as a positive step. One we all should embrace.