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spending through 2024 to help ranchers and others improve habitat in what one top official says may be the best, last chance to keep the bistate population off the list of threatened species.
• "This is the last train out of the station," Jason Weller, chief of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service, told The Associated Press.
• While the multiagency effort targets grouse habitat in California and Nevada, officials said they hope it will spread in years to come to the overall habitat of the greater sage grouse across 11 western states.
• "With proactive conservation investments, we're helping farmers and ranchers who are improving habitat through voluntary efforts to stabilize this population of sage grouse," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Friday in formally announcing what he said was a "groundbreaking commitment" to provide $25.5 million over the next five to 10 years to help buy conservation easements in areas with key habitats.
• The U.S. Bureau of Land Management also is committing $6.5 million over 10 years to finance a wide range of improvements for the bistate population, which the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed be granted protection under the Endangered Species Act.
• The service estimates there are only about 5,000 of the birds left. A final decision is expected in April.
• "The biologists that work for NRCS and our partners were concerned that absent an accelerated action, staying the course we are on, all signals were it's likely going to be listed," Weller said in a telephone interview from Washington. "There are no promises here, but hopefully it will make a difference in the ultimate listing decision."
• In proposing last year to list the bistate population as threatened, the Fish and Wildlife Service agreed with conservationists who raised concerns about the lack of certainty and funding for future efforts to protect the bird.
• "We are trying to address that uncertainty," Weller said. "It's all hands on deck. We are committing the money. This is about as concrete as we can get."
• The leader of a national group representing ranchers who graze sheep and cattle on public lands said Friday it is "a positive move by the administration."
• "Listing the sage grouse would cause ranchers to lose property rights and hinder their ability not only to raise cattle, but to continue to implement conservation efforts, assuring viable habitat for the varied species of the West," said Dustin Van Liew, executive director of the Public Lands Council.
• "We applaud the funding efforts and encourage the ranching industry to take advantage of this opportunity," added Ron Torell, president of the Nevada Cattlemen's

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