New Poll Shows Western Voters Support BLM Plans on Sage-Grouse Habitat

Jeannie Stafford/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

A survey of rural voters’ views on Bureau of Land Management plans for protection of greater sage-grouse habitat finds bipartisan support for conservation of the land, even if it means restricting some energy development.

The poll, conducted by Republican polling firm Public Opinion Strategies and Democratic polling firm Benenson Strategy Group, was commissioned by The Pew Charitable Trusts. Respondents were registered voters who live in counties with greater sage-grouse habitat in California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Nevada, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington State, and Wyoming.

The imperiled greater sage-grouse is an indicator species for the health of the interior West’s sagebrush region—where hundreds of other wildlife and plant species also live.

View sage-grouse polling results (PDF)