Increasingly, endangered species are an important factor in
rangeland management. Some species of special concern in the
Pacific Northwest rangelands are sage grouse, salmon, Columbia crazyweed,
gray wolves, pygmy rabbits and desert tortoises. We will discuss
some of these as they concern rangeland management.
Sage Grouse
At the present time several public and environmental groups
are attempting to get the Sage Grouse listed under the Endangered
Species Act. Sage Grouse can be found throughout the Pacific
Northwest and many other western states. Their range used to
run into southern British Columbia but they are now extirpated
there and reintroduction attempts have failed (Royal
British Columbia Museum, 1995).
Attempts to list the Sage Grouse are being challenged by both
the Fish and Wildlife Service (which cannot provide adequate
funding to address the endangered status of the Sage Grouse)
and ranchers and portions of the public that fear that listing
the Grouse will threaten grazing rights on public lands. Grouse
and livestock eat much of the same forage. Though Grouse eat
mostly sage they also eat various forbs, grasses and insects.
Some scientists and members of the public contend that heavy
grazing on rangelands has reduced available Grouse habitat leading
to severe declines in their populations. In addition, severe
fires in recent years have led to even greater loss of Grouse
habitat. On the other hand, some ranchers claim that cattle
increase the amount of habitat available to Grouse, counting
greater numbers of Grouse where cattle are present. Still others
contend that Grouse and grazing on rangelands are not incompatible
but that in areas where Grouse habitat has been degraded due
to grazing, management must be modified to restore and protect
Grouse habitat.
Salmon
The debate over the decreasing salmon stocks in the Columbia
Basin has affected most of us living in the Pacific Northwest.
Though the primary threat to salmon stocks comes from such issues
as dams on our rivers and lowland agricultural practices the
management of riparian areas in the Pacific Northwest’s rangelands
affects the health of salmon populations as well. Improper management
of riparian areas can lead to stream channel degradation and
loss of salmon spawning sites. Due to a number of anthropogenic
factors, particularly dams, more than 50 species of salmon have
gone extinct and 38 populations of salmon are now at or below
half of their original population sizes and continue to decline
(CRITFC, 2001). The first salmon species was listed
under the ESA in 1991; today 26 species are listed.
One comprehensive study (Rhodes,
1995) of the effectiveness of seven land management
approaches in restoring habitat vital to salmon, found that
while some management plans showed real promise of improving
salmon populations many would have no positive effect or would
cause salmon populations to decline. The land management plans
studied were applied to the Snake River Basin. Many of the salmon
species in the Snake River Basin, listed under the Endangered
Species Act, continue to decline. The seven major plans and
several localized projects were given ratings of their effectiveness.
Projects were given high scores for specifically targeting habitat
restoration rather than focusing primarily on resource extraction,
for implementing monitoring and follow-up procedures, protecting
riparian areas, constraints on land disturbing activities (e.g.
mining, grazing, logging), protection of existing areas of low
degradation, and clarity and accountability written into the
plan. A high percentage of the forests in the watersheds studied
have been degraded. Logging and road building have bee the primary
culprits. Grazing has done the most damage to riparian areas.
Pygmy Rabbits
The population of eastern Washington pygmy rabbits is an evolutionarily
unique population. Only about 12 to 30 Washington pygmies existed
in the wild when they were emergency listed as an endangered
Distinct Population Segment in 2001, and breeding programs in
Pullman, WA and Portland, OR were started to begin recovery
of this species. The rabbits were listed under Washington’s
endangered species list in 1993 and federally listed in 2003.
Like Grouse, the rabbits eat primarily sagebrush, especially
in the winter, with increased dependence on grass and forbs
in the summer. Though their population has probably never been
very large historically, their numbers are decreasing due primarily
to predation, disease and loss of habitat. Much of pygmy rabbit
habitat has been lost to irrigated farmland. Cattle grazing
may pose a threat to the remaining rabbit habitat. Grazing increases
sage density, which can be beneficial to the rabbits, in providing
increased shelter and access to sage forage, but it also decreases
grass and forb densities at times in the year when those plants
make up a larger portion of the rabbits’ diet. It also tends
to reduce the protein content of the grass forage species rabbits
eat. Rabbits were found to burrow at higher densities on ungrazed
areas than on grazed ones. Direct disturbance, alteration of
nutrition resources and habitat degradation due to grazing pose
some threat to the survival of pygmy rabbits. Given the highly
vulnerable position this species is in, grazing will need to
be strictly controlled or prohibited in rangelands managed for
pygmy rabbit recovery. (Siegel,
2002).
Conservation efforts will have to include measures to minimize
predation, planting of forage and fertilizing of sagebrush,
which provide food and shelter for the burrowing rabbits.
