SGIT to meet in November

The Sage Grouse Implementation Team will hold a meeting beginning at 9:30 a.m. Monday, Nov. 7, at the Wyoming Game and Fish Department Headquarters, located at 5400 Bishop Blvd in Cheyenne.  

According to the Wyoming Game and Fish, the Sage-Grouse Implementation Team (SGIT) is comprised of representatives from State and Federal agencies as well as industry, and non-governmental organizations. The SGIT members have been appointed by Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon to work collaboratively to protect the Greater Sage-Grouse under the State of Wyoming’s Sage-Grouse Executive Order.

The SGIT meets approximately six times a year to discuss current Sage-Grouse related issues under the direction of Chairman Bob Budd. The public is invited to attend these meetings.

In the spring of this year, officials reported steady numbers of grouse attending the annual leks. Officials counted an average of approximately 18 male sage grouse per active lek. 

According to the Game and Fish, each spring, male sage-grouse perform an elaborate sunrise display on communal breeding grounds known as “leks”. While sage-grouse require sagebrush landscapes to survive, these leks are often located in open areas where the males can be better seen and heard by females.

Game and Fish monitors the percentage of known active and inactive leks throughout Wyoming. A lek is considered inactive if no birds or signs of strutting are observed under ideal conditions during mating season. Active leks remain steady at 75.6%.

The department reports that over 16,740 peak male sage grouse were observed on 87% of known, occupied leks. These annual counts are carried out by Game and Fish, Bureau of Land Management, consultants and volunteers. Birds are counted either aerially or on the ground through observations from a distance during their spring mating.

The full agenda is available online; times and agenda items may be subject to change. The public can also watch through Zoom.

The public is invited to attend in-person or online.