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Dokken: The Story of Sage Grouse in North Dakota Seems to Be Coming to a Sad Ending
BOWMAN COUNTY, NORTH DAKOTA, JUL 26 – Surveys found no male sage grouse on western North Dakota leks this spring, marking a steep decline despite translocation efforts involving 205 birds from Wyoming between 2017 and 2020.
- This spring's state and federal surveys did not record any males of the sage grouse species in Bowman County, which is the final known location supporting a small population in western North Dakota.
- The decline results from multiple factors including loss of Big Sagebrush habitat, rangeland conversion, agriculture, energy development, and confirmed West Nile virus cases since 2006 or 2007.
- Between 2017 and 2020, efforts to increase sage grouse numbers involved relocating 205 birds from Wyoming; however, the population experienced a prompt decline afterward, and continuing these relocations was ultimately deemed unsustainable.
- The male count was as low as five in 2017, rebounded to 29 in 2019, but remained far below the 199 males recorded in 2007, signaling persistent population stress despite limited rebounds.
- The failure to detect males and habitat loss suggests the species could be functionally extinct in North Dakota, with no significant recovery expected without substantial habitat protection and reduced development impacts.
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16 Articles
Post Bulletin
Dokken: The story of sage grouse in North Dakota seems to be coming to a sad ending
To say that sage grouse now are extinct in western North Dakota might be stretching things – but only slightly – after lek surveys this spring failed to find a single male on the mating grounds, a Game and Fish Department biologist says. This was the first year that state and federal surveyors failed to count a single male sage grouse in Bowman County, the last place in western North Dakota with a remnant population of the beleaguered grouse spe…
Surveys indicate the sage grouse may be functionally extinct in North Dakota
To say that sage grouse now are extinct in western North Dakota might be stretching things — but only slightly — after surveys of the leks, the birds’ communal mating grounds, this spring failed to find a single male on the mating grounds, a Game and Fish Department biologist says. This was the first year that state and federal surveyors failed to count a single male sage grouse in Bowman County, the last place in western North Dakota with a rem…
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