North Dakota Officials Say Sage Grouse Have Been Extirpated in the State

North Dakota appears to have completely lost one of its most iconic native species: the greater sage grouse. During this year’s annual spring breeding grounds survey, North Dakota Game and Fish Department (NDGFD) staffers were unable to locate any active leks.

“This is the first time ever we were not able to find any male sage grouse at active leks in North Dakota,” NDGFD upland game management supervisor Jesse Kolartold E&E News.Male sage grouse famously pop their chests to attempt to attract mates, and because they do so in the open, scientists rely on them to gauge populations.

According to Kolar, North Dakota’s last pocket of sage grouse, which was in the southwest part of the state, have struggled in recent years because of habitat loss, energy development, and disease. Last year, NDGFD staffers counted only four male sage grouse, down from 23 in 2023.

“It’s not unusual for leks to blip out and reactivate when populations rebound,” said Kolar. “[But] with our state population completely drying up, I don’t expect we’ll experience those rebounds, unless [sage grouse disperse] from Montana or South Dakota.”

The greater sage grouse is one of the most imperiled native upland species in North America.According to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the species’ numbers “have likely declined since the settlement of the western United States.”

Since the 1950s, scientists have recorded “population declines and, in some areas, local extirpation. Primary causes of habitat loss and fragmentation include the altered wildfire cycle due to the establishment of non-native invasive plants, and human activities, like energy development, transmission lines, and rural subdivisions.”

In 2015, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which manages much existing greater sage grouse habitat, adopted management plans to conserve the species within its 11-state range. That range appears to be down to 10, now, despite some efforts to relocate birds from Wyoming into active leks in North Dakota to supplement the dwindling population.

The disheartening news comes amid political jostling over sage grouse management, which has been on the verge of being listed under the Endangered Species Act for years. In 2019, the Trump Administration sought to revise the BLM’s sage grouse management plan to facilitate energy and other forms of development over conservation. While a federal judge blocked that measure, Trump appears to be taking a similar tack in his second term.

On his first day as the Secretary of the Interior, former North Dakota governor Doug Burgumissued an executive orderdirecting his department to “review and, as appropriate, revise all relevant draft and all finalized resource management plans,” including greater sage grouse management plans.

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