March, April and early May mark the sage grouse dancing season, when males assemble at dawn every day on “leks,” (open natural dance floors in the sage grouse) and put on breathtaking displays as they compete for the very picky hens. The timing of the breeding season depends a bit on elevation.

When Sage Grouse Initiative (SGI) range conservationist Mandi Hirsch heads out into the sagebrush from the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) office in Lander, Wyoming, she represents not one agency but six partners.

Listen to this in-depth interview with Dr Terry Messmer on Utah Public Radio to learn about sage grouse natural history, conservation and policy with an emphasis on Utah

Listen Live to the Sage Grouse Working Group Summit , Feb 18, 2014: connect.usu.edu/sg/day1/

The Bureau of Land Management’s Bishop Field Office, the U.S. Forest Service’s Bridgeport District of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service Minden Field Office recently coordinated the marking of approximately 16 miles of fence to prevent sage-grouse mortalities or injuries.

Eastern Montana rancher Bill Milton is pleased to see a new sodsaver provision in the Farm Bill of 2014, signed by the President today. He runs a grass-fed cattle operation near Roundup, that’s on the edge of important habitat for sage grouse.

U.S. Secretary of Interior Sally Jewell and other top officials saw the Sage Grouse Initiative partnership in action at the Bord Gulch Ranch, NW Colorado.

The next time you hunt a big mule deer buck in Wyoming, you might want to thank a sage grouse.
That’s because a major initiative to conserve sage grouse populations in the West is having beneficial impacts on other game as well—especially mule deer. The Sage Grouse Initiative (SGI)