BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - The North Dakota Game and Fish Department crew is airlifting sage grouse into the state in hopes of saving the native bird.
Efforts began last week to capture enough wild birds in Wyoming to bring 40 females and 20 males into the state, The Bismarck Tribune (https://bit.ly/2orbIHH ) reported. As of Tuesday, the department had captured 14 males and 10 females.
The ongoing project has reached an air of desperation as the once plentiful bird has declined to near extinction in the state.
“We’re at the end of our rope here, and we’re doing whatever we can to keep the population from being extirpated,” said upland game management supervisor Aaron Robinson.
Robinson said West Nile is killing the population over time, but so is the lost of their native habitat to the development of oil and gas wells.
After the grouse are captured in Wyoming, they are weighed and radio collared, individually boxed and flown to a known lek on remote Bureau of Land Management land in Bowman County. A graduate student is expected to monitor the new arrivals this summer to see if they adapt, reproduce, if chicks survive and if the birds stick around.
Robinson said the project faces challenges, including finding female sage grouse.
“Whether this works is a huge unknown. Reestablishing a population takes years and years, and there is a high likelihood that it won’t work,” Robinson said.
This is operation airlift is a first for North Dakota, though other states have transplanted sage grouse.
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Information from: Bismarck Tribune, https://www.bismarcktribune.com
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