Sage Grouse Listing Could Impact Military Facilities

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Efforts to protect the greater sage grouse under the federal Endangered Species Act could hurt training operations at numerous U.S. military facilities in the West. That's according to a report released this week by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Installations, Energy, and Environment. The report looked at the impact of protecting sage grouse on the Yakima Training Center in Washington; Hawthorne Army Depot in Nevada; the Wyoming National Guard; Tooele Army Depot and Dugway Proving Ground in Utah.

The report found that protecting the bird would restrict the availability of training lands; restrict the size of training lands and ranges; restrict the use of firing points and impose restrictions on future development and construction. The greatest impacts would occur at the Yakima Training Center.