A collaborative approach for conservation of the Bi-State greater sage-grouse was initiated in 2002 by the Bi-State Local Area Working Group (LAWG) under the guidance of the Nevada Governor’s Sage Grouse Conservation Team. Since then, resource management agencies and stakeholders have implemented actions for long-term conservation of greater sage-grouse in the Bi-State area, guided first by the 2004 Greater Sage-Grouse Conservation Plan and now by the updated 2012 Bi-State Sage-Grouse Conservation Action Plan (Action Plan). View a conservation history timeline here.
The objective of the Action Plan was to develop a comprehensive set of strategies, objectives and actions to be implemented over a 10-year span to attain long-term conservation of the Bi-State DPS and their habitats. In 2014, a team of agency biologists reviewed the Action Plan and developed 76 projects that were considered the highest priority Action Plan projects to complete.
These strategies, objectives and actions are implemented through the Bi-State Local Area Working Group (Bi-State LAWG), a collaborative conservation network of federal, state and local government agencies, Native American tribal members and representatives, nonprofits organizations and private landowners. Utilizing a science-based adaptive management approach, this diverse group of stakeholders cooperates to carry out strategies and actions identified in the Action Plan.
These actions include population monitoring, habitat monitoring and the implementation of a wide variety of conservation projects. These conservation efforts and collaborative partnerships have had a positive influence on sage-grouse populations and the sagebrush ecosystem in the Bi-State area. Each year completed work completed is summarized in Annual Implementation Reports and partners develop an updated scope of work for the upcoming year.