Rules aim to protect sage grouse habitat in 10 states

Staff and wire report

While even some Republicans including Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead supported a new U.S. Interior Department plan to preserve sage grouse habitat, some Montanans including Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock aren't quite as happy with the plans.

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell revealed plans Thursday to preserve habitat in 10 Western states, including Montana, for the imperiled ground-dwelling bird, the federal government's biggest land-planning effort to date for conservation of a single species.

Sage grouse are chicken-sized birds that inhabit grass and sagebrush ecosystems in 11 st...