As previously mentioned in Constan 1976, 77 and 78, the 

 primary land use practice detrimental to sage grouse is sage- 

 brush destruction. It is well documented that sage grouse can- 

 not exist without sagebrush, yet every year more sagebrush is 

 destroyed and the resulting sagebrush-free lands are planted to 

 small grain agriculture, hay or grasses. The major sage grouse 

 habitat east and northeast of Winifred is no exception. What 

 was once a large block of sagebrush-grassland is now a grain 

 agriculture with only small remnant blocks of sagebrush remain- 

 ing. In order to protect sagebrush, at this time when massive 

 amounts of privately owned sagebrush-covered land is being con- 

 verted into grain production, more sagebrush must be protected 

 on piiblic lands. Sagebrush on Bureau of Land Management land 

 and on State lands must be protected and managed for its wild- 

 life values. During this study, the following State and BLM 

 lands have been identified as key lands for sage grouse, and 

 therefore the sagebrush on these lands must be protected. 

 These'*lands are separated into areas used by sage grouse for 

 strutting grounds, winter ranges used under average winter con- 

 ditions and winter ranges used under severe winter conditions. 

 They are as follows: 



Strutting Grounds 



State -SI, T22N, R20E; S 10, T22N, R19E; S 16, T22N, 

 R19E; S 36, T21N, R19E. 



BLM - S 8, T22N, R20E; SJjS 33, T22N, R19E; S 29 & 32, 

 T21N, R19E. 



W inter Ranges - average winter conditions 



State - S 36, T21N, R19E; S 36, T23N, R19E; S 9,10,11, 



15,16,21, T22N, R19E; S 25,26,27,28,33,34,35,36, 

 T22N, R19E. 



BLM - S 31, T23N, R20E; S 18, T22N, R20E; S 19,30, T22N, 

 R19E; S 5,21, T20N, R19E; S 31, T21N, R20E; 

 S 29,30,31,32,33,35, T21N, R19E. 



Winter Ranges - severe winter conditions 



State - S 16, T25N, R17E; S 16, T23N, R17E; S 36, T25N, 



R16E; S 16, T21N, R15E; S 13,14,25,26, T22N, R21E; 

 S 1, T22N, R20E; S 16, T2 IN , R19E . 



BLM - S 7,8,12,3,2, T2 3N , R22E; S 5,6, T23N, R23E; 



S 28,32, T21N, R16E; S 17, T21N, R15E; S 8,9, T22N, 



R15E; S 25, T23N, R21E; S 17,30, T22N, R19E; 



S 25, T22N, R18E; S 26, T23N, R20E; S 19,30, T22N, 



R22E; S 13,14, T22N, R21E; S 14,21,23,24,25, T25N, 



R16E; S 4,10,11,14,20,21,31,32,33, T25N, R17E; 



S 5,6,7,8,10,18,19, T24N, R17E; S 4,8,9,10,11, 



14,15,21,23, T23N, R17E. 



CMR - Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Range - S21, 

 T22N, R23E. 



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