Blog: HECHO Celebrates the First Anniversary of the Greater Sage-Grouse Announcement

Greater Sage-Grouse (Photo credit: Bureau of Land Management)

One year ago, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announcemed that the greater sage-grouse no longer needed to be considered as a threatened or endangered species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

In honor of this milestone, we share the following remarks from HECHO Director Camilla Simon:

“We celebrate the anniversary of this historic conservation announcement that was made possible by the implementation of science-based programs and the coordination and collaboration of federal land management agencies and multiple stakeholders including local communities, conservation organizations, and state governments of 11 western states.

The strategy used by the Department of Interior and USDA agencies to avoid the need for an ESA listing represents the largest landscape-level conservation effort ever undertaken in our country. This public-private partnership is a standard for 21st century conservation. 

We look forward to making this type of work the norm for the way public lands are managed, and we are eager to make sure that diverse voices, including the Latino community, are part of the public lands management and conservation decision-making processes.”