Beneficial Management Practices for Saskatchewan Species at Risk: Greater Sage-grouse Endangered

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Beneficial Management Practices for Saskatchewan
Species at Risk Greater Sage-grouse
Endangered
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• 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

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• 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

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• 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

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• Beneficial Management Practices
• Habitat Size
• Retain all remaining natural prairie within a 5
  to 10 km radius around a Greater Sage-grouse lek

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• 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

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• Grazing (contd)
• 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

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• Grazing (contd)
• 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

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• 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

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• 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

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• Ecotourism Off Highway Vehicle Use
• Avoid ecotourism activities and using all terrain
  vehicles and in sage grouse habitat during
  breeding and nesting period