Download Greater Sage-grouse Presentation

Beneficial Management
Practices for Saskatchewan
Species at Risk:
Greater Sage-grouse
Endangered
• Long black & white tail
with pointy tips
• Black patch on belly
• White band on black
throat
• Large ruff of white
feathers on chest
• Yellow combs above eyes
• Found in warm, dry grasslands where
sagebrush, particularly where Silver
Sagebrush is present
• Restricted to sagebrush community due
to attributes that meet needs throughout
life cycle
• Feeds on soft vegetation such as
sagebrush, flowering plants and insects
• Located in the SW corner of the province
where sagebrush communities exist
• Status: Endangered
• Declined due habitat loss, degradation and
fragmentation, increased predation, West
Nile virus and genetic inbreeding
• 186-276 birds in Saskatchewan
Beneficial Management Practices
Habitat Size
• Retain all remaining natural prairie within
a 5 to 10 km radius around a Greater
Sage-grouse lek
Grazing
• Avoid early spring livestock use of sage
grouse habitat
• Graze lightly and periodically in the early
spring or late dormant season
• Avoid concentrated grazing or
supplemental feeding in sagebrush
communities in the winter
Grazing (cont’d)
• Limit sheep utilization of sage grouse
habitat
• Avoid water developments that disrupt the
natural flow of water to low-lying moist
areas or function of riparian vegetation
• Install escape ramps in existing steep
sided water troughs and dugouts
Grazing (cont’d)
• Avoid installing fences within sage grouse
habitat where fences did not previously
exist
• When rebuilding existing fences, make at
least the top 2 wires smooth rather than
barbed
Woody Vegetation
• Do not plant trees or shrubs on native
grasslands within 5 to 10 km of a lek
• Remove man-made structures from native
or tame grassland that serve as roosts for
avian predators
• Avoid removal or reduction of woody
shrubs (i.e. Silver Sagebrush) by any
method within 5 to 10 km of a lek
Roads
• Restrict traffic on roads within 3 km of a
sage grouse lek during breeding & nesting
• Restrict traffic speed on roads to 10km of
a sage grouse lek
• Encourage resource developers to
minimize construction of new roads and
trails within 3 km of sage grouse lek
Ecotourism & Off Highway Vehicle Use
• Avoid ecotourism activities and using all
terrain vehicles and in sage grouse habitat
during breeding and nesting period