By JAYSON JACOBY

Baker City Herald

The federal government will again study the sage grouse, a chicken-size bird that lives in Baker County and by some accounts could be the andquot;spotted owl of the eastside,andquot; to determine whether the grouse should be listed as a threatened or endangered species.

If the bird is listed, ranchers in Baker County and in much of Eastern Oregon might have to cut back on livestock grazing on the sage-strewn public lands where most of the birds live.

Designating the sage grouse as a threatened or endangered species could also affect off-road vehicle travel on those same swathes of public land, most of which is overseen by the Bureau of Land Management.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Monday that it might actually undertake two sage grouse studies.

First, the agency will decide whether the western sage grouse, the variety that lives in Baker County and elsewhere in Eastern Oregon, Eastern Washington, Northern California and possibly parts of Idaho, is a separate subspecies from the greater sage grouse.

In 2003 the Fish and Wildlife Service said there was no andquot;genetic evidence to support a subspecies distinction,andquot; according to a press release from the agency.

A second, more detailed genetic study in 2005, though it didn’t specifically address the issue of the western sage grouse as a possible subspecies, andquot;did identify numerous genetic ‘clusters’ of sage grouse, leading to enough uncertainty in the minds of some experts to suggest further review of the bird’s taxonomy is appropriate,andquot; according to the press release.

If biologists conclude the western sage grouse is a distinct subspecies, then the agency will decide whether that subspecies needs protection under the federal Endangered Species Act.

In late 2004 the Fish and Wildlife Service, after studying sage grouse for more than two years, decided the greater sage grouse did not need federal protection.

The birds in Baker County

Although the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) deems about 1,062 square miles in Baker County as sage grouse habitat one-third of the county’s area that’s just 6 percent of Oregon’s total.

ODFW estimates that 83 percent of the bird’s habitat is in the three vast county’s of the state’s southeast region: Harney, Malheur and Lake.

As its name implies, the sage grouse depends on sagebrush.

The shrub supplies most of the birds’ food during winter, and taller, mature plants, which can top five feet high, shelter the grouse from harsh weather and predators such as coyotes.

But Nick Myatt, district wildlife biologist at ODFW’s Baker City office, said sage grouse also rely on grasses and other plants that grow between clumps of sagebrush.

Hens that eat those plants tend to produce more eggs, and sage grouse chicks also feed on the tender vegetation, according to ODFW’s sage grouse plan.

Cattle, though, like to munch those same plants.

Opinions differ on the extent to which livestock degrade sage grouse habitat.

According to the ODFW sage grouse plan, andquot;moderate levels of (grazing) are generally thought to be compatible with maintenanceandquot; of grasses and other plants sage grouse depend on.

Myatt agrees with that assessment.

andquot;Sage grouse and grazing can co-exist,andquot; he said. andquot;The important thing is to maintain property grazing management.andquot;

Myatt said several Baker County ranchers work with government agencies to reduce the effects livestock have on sage grouse habitat.

Generally speaking, sage grouse populations in Baker County have remained relatively steady or declined slightly during the past decade or so, Myatt said.

However, populations in two areas Virtue Flat east of Baker City and Unity Reservoir in southern Baker County have plummeted during the past few years, he said.

At Unity Reservoir, for instance, biologists this spring counted an average of just one male sage grouse per andquot;lekandquot; a lek is an open area amidst the sagebrush where males gather during the spring breeding season to perform their unique strutting dance designed to attract hens.

The average count in the Unity Reservoir area during the mid 1990s was about 25 males per lek, Myatt said.

At Virtue Flat, a few miles southeast of the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center, this spring’s count netted 18 male sage grouse per lek. That’s slightly less than half the average of about 40 males per lek during the early and mid 1990s, Myatt said.

By contrast, sage grouse seem to be thriving in the county’s southeast corner, between Malheur Reservoir and Huntington.

Myatt said biologists counted an average of 86 male sage grouse per lek there this spring more than double the average of 40 males per lek during the late 1990s.

Countywide, this spring’s average of nine males per lek was the lowest since 1993, Myatt said. The 10-year county average is 12 males per lek.

Myatt said he hasn’t pinpointed factors that might be partially responsible for the decline in sage grouse numbers at Virtue Flat and Unity Reservoir, or for the increase in counts in the county’s southeast corner.

In any case, he said, the 10-year trend, which shows much less dramatic changes than this spring’s figures, is the more meaningful statistic.

andquot;This year could just be a statistical blip,andquot; he said.

Myatt said two factors, besides grazing and off-road vehicles, that could degrade sage grouse habitat are encroachment of western juniper trees, and developments ranging from construction of homes and roads to wind turbine farms.

Baker County officials recognized potential threats to sage grouse in the 1980s by designating Virtue Flat as one of the county’s eight andquot;Significant Natural Areas.andquot;

The county can limit construction of houses and other developments in those areas, but so far county officials have decided limitations are not necessary to protect sage grouse around Virtue Flat.

The county has approved plans for a few new homes there over the past decade.

Another factor that could affect sage grouse in Virtue Flat is BLM’s 3,500-acre off-highway vehicle area, which lies between Highway 86 and Ruckles Creek Road.

There are two leks within two miles of the Virtue Flat OHV area.

BLM officials have said the vast majority of riders stay within the OHV area, and sage grouse continue to use the two nearest leks.

The birds also have shown that they’re capable of colonizing new habitat when necessary.

According to ODFW, the construction of Highway 86 and Ruckles Creek Road, along with the designation of the Virtue Flat OHV area and the construction of the Interpretive Center, caused sage grouse to abandon several leks they had used since at least the early 1940s, when Oregon biologists conducted the state’s first intensive sage grouse study.

Sage grouse established new leks in better habitat nearby, according to ODFW.