Jewell to announce listing decision for sage grouse

RENO — Interior Secretary Sally Jewell plans to announce Tuesday whether she will move forward with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s earlier proposal to order federal protection for a type of sage grouse found only in California and Nevada.

Jewell plans a formal announcement on a listing decision for the bistate sage grouse in Reno Tuesday afternoon. It comes months before a more-sweeping decision is due Sept. 30 on whether to declare the greater sage grouse threatened or endangered in 11 western states.

The Fish and Wildlife Service proposed the bistate subspecies be declared threatened along the Sierra’s eastern front in 2013. State and federal officials have been working with ranchers and others since then try to head off a listing with voluntary efforts to restore the bird’s critical habitat.