Endangered Species Coalition petition: Add your name to tell Secretary Zinke not to abandon sage-grouse recovery

Friends, Environmentalists, ranchers, sportsmen, and even energy industry representatives worked for years to achieve an agreement to save the greater sage-grouse. This plan is supported by governors and other elected officials from both major parties and has been put into motion since its announcement in early 2015. In spite of what is by most accounts a conservation success story, U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke wants to go back to square one and create a different plan, that is more favorable to the mining and oil and gas industries. Tell Secretary Ryan Zinke not to abandon the successful Sage Grouse Initiative. Over the summer, Secretary Zinke's Department of Interior announced that they would be overhauling the successful and collaborative sage-grouse conservation plans. Only Secretary Zinke knows his motivations, but a letter from an oil and gas lobbying group showed the unique access and deference that he offered them. Of the 15 recommendations that energy lobbyists sought, Secretary Zinke's plan includes all but two. Add your name to tell Secretary Zinke to allow the sage-grouse plan to work instead of rewarding his industry friends. Sage-grouse were once common across the American West, numbering in the tens of millions. Mining, oil and gas drilling, and other habitat loss have caused these birds to decline by more than 90 percent. The sage-grouse conservation plans that were agreed to in 2015, focus on local efforts designed to keep these one-of-a-kind birds from slipping even closer to extinction. And it's not just these birds that benefit–these conservation measures not only protect the sage-grouse, but 350 other species that rely on sagebrush habitat. Please sign our petition to Secretary Ryan Zinke asking him to put conservation first and leave the Sage Grouse Initiative in place. Thank you for your commitment to wildlife and wild places. Sincerely, Leda Huta Executive Director Endangered Species Coalition Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Tumblr http://www.endangered.org/the-greater-sage-grouse-is-in-trouble-again-%F0%9F%98%A0/ http://westernvaluesproject.org/complaint-filed-on-oil-and-gas-lobbyists-role-in-zinkes-sage-grouse-changes/ https://www.fws.gov/greatersagegrouse/factsheets/GreaterSageGrouseCanon_FINAL.pdf