The feds have developed a wildfire strategy they hope will help protect sage grouse . . .
A federal wildfire strategy released Tuesday aims to protect the West’s sagebrush country that is home to a struggling bird species and to help prevent the sage grouse from being classified as threatened or endangered later this year.
Interior Secretary Sally Jewell was in Boise to announce the plan making greater sage grouse habitat a priority for fire prevention and response, focusing mainly on the Great Basin region of Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Oregon and California.
The plan comes as the federal government and Western states scramble to implement plans meant to halt the decline of sage grouse populations and habitat. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is under a court order to decide by Sept. 30 whether the sage grouse merits protections from the Endangered Species Act.