Lassen Land and Trails Trust is hosting a conversation about the Greater sage-grouse this Thursday, March 12th, at 7:00p.m. at the historic Susanville railroad depot, 601 Richmond Road, Susanville. The conversation will be led by Frank Hall, retired wildlife biologist from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and Tiffany Russell, Northeast California Partner Biologist with Point Blue Conservation Science.
The smell of sage surrounds us here in the high desert. It lets us know we live in the Great Basin, a vast area which takes in multiple states. Wide-open expanses of sagebrush steppe are part of the rich history of the American West. Sage-grouse share this iconic landscape with mule deer, pronghorn, elk, and hundreds of other species of birds. Sage and the wide-open spaces are nice for us, but crucial to the Greater sage-grouse. Perhaps no other animal depends upon it as completely as the chicken-sized sage-grouse.
Changes in land use have paralleled a dwindling of sage-grouse numbers. One hundred years ago, there were 16 million birds. Today’s population is between 200 to 500 million or less. Fifty percent of their sagebrush habitat has been lost. The devastating Rush Fire further impacted our local Greater sage-grouse population by making it harder to find cover for nesting, fall and winter food, and protection from predators and weather.
Come and learn about Greater sage-grouse and the efforts being made by Lassen Land and Trails Trust, Bureau of Land Management, private landowners, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and many other state, local and regional agencies who are working together to keep the Greater sage-grouse from disappearing from our landscape altogether.
