“Following a land use plan released by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) earlier this month, conservation advocates and natural oil and gas developers alike have criticized the plan for stripping protections for the greater sage-grouse bird population and for what has been described as the agency’s inconsistency in land use plans.

“Every president starting with Obama has screwed over these iconic Western birds and the hundreds of other wildlife species that depend on the beautiful sagebrush sea,” said Randi Spivak, public lands policy director at the Center for Biological Diversity. 

For its part, the Western Energy Alliance (WEA) is taking the BLM to court. The WEA lawsuit claims a history of ever-changing land use plans and “serial litigation in multiple forums for more than a decade” that has adversely affected oil and gas interests. It seeks a consistent statement from BLM and the Department of the Interior that the recently approved plan is compliant with federal law and state and local land use plans.

…

Conservationists also raised concerns about the new RMP due to reductions to protected sage-grouse habitats and said that the bird – which has been eligible for protections under the Endangered Species Act since the early 2010s – is only one of several animals that benefit from the habitat protection.

“Greater sage-grouse are teetering on the brink of extinction, and their fate is inextricably linked to hundreds of other animals who rely on the sagebrush sea,” said the Center for Biological Diversity’s Randi Spivak.

…

Much like oil and natural gas interests have initiated with the Western Energy Alliance lawsuit, many conservation groups have expressed concern and possible need for legal action regarding the new RMP’s approach to what they feel is stripping greater sage-grouse habitat protections.

“We’re not letting these dancing birds go without a fight, so we’ll see Trump in court,” Spivak said.

Published: Jan. 1, 2026

Role: Co-Reporter

Photo by Carl Cote