Sage grouse are also adversely affected by livestock overgrazing 

 and weed eradication programs. The Department of State Lands 

 and the BLM should prevent these practices on the above-mentioned 

 lands and any other lands used by sage grouse. 



Sharp-tailed Grouse 



Western Segment 



Distribution 



Sharp-tailed grouse observations totaled 1,087 for the 

 period of this project. The distribution of these observations 

 and spring dancing grounds are presented in Figure 22. The 

 sharptails are the most abundant of the native grouse found in 

 the study area. They are found throughout the study area where 

 native grassland vegetation still exists. They are primarily 

 associated with the river breaks and tributary coulees. Excellent 

 populations are found in the foothill grasslands of the Highwood 

 Mountains. Seasonal habitat use data show an association of this 

 species with plateau and ridge grasslands during the spring, which 

 correlates with breeding season activity. A movement toward 

 creek bottom agricultural lands is indicated, which would follow 

 with desiccation of upland vegetation during brood rearing. Fall 

 and winter observations show use of agricultural lands and areas 

 of deciduous cover on uplands and creek bottoms. 



Population Characteristics 



During the course of the project, seven sharptail dancing 

 grounds (Table 18) were located and censused in the western seg- 

 ment of the project. The average number of males per ground was 

 13.8 in 1976, 16.6 in 1977, 11.3 in 1978, and 14.7 in 1979. 

 Sharptail brood observations found an average of 6.3 young per 

 brood in 1976 and 6.5 in 1979. 



Table 18. Sharptail dancing ground count. 



54 



