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The summary below was written by the Congressional Research Service, which is a nonpartisan division of the Library of Congress, and was published on Apr 22, 2015.
Sage-Grouse Protection and Conservation Act
This bill addresses the management of the greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) and the Gunnison sage-grouse (Centrocercus minimus) in California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.
If the Department of Agriculture (USDA) or the Department of the Interior receives, or has already received, from one of those states a statewide conservation and management plan for the protection and recovery of those sage-grouse species, the appropriate department must take steps during the next six years to: (1) allow for appropriate monitoring and collection of data, and (2) assess the state plan's success.
The appropriate department must: (1) share data with states and assist them in developing and implementing plans; (2) require states that opt to have plans in lieu of federal endangered species plans to monitor and report on relevant data, including population trends; (3) use statewide plans as the basis for all relevant determinations under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969; and (4) stay any land use planning activities relating to federal management of sage-grouse species on public land or National Forest System land within those states that have plans.
The appropriate department may extend the provisions of the bill for six more years with the consent of the relevant state.
Interior must fully implement for at least six years Secretarial Order 3336 to prevent and suppress rangeland fire and restore sagebrush landscapes impacted by fire across the Western United States.
