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A. Introduction and Purpose
The San Juan County
Gunnison Sage Grouse Working Group (SWOG) was formed in 1996 to identify and
implement community-based conservation strategies to reverse the decline of
sage grouse populations in the county. From the onset, SWOG has sought wide
local citizen involvement. SWOG consists of public management agencies, private
landowners, local citizens, and private conservation groups. A list of SWOG
members can be found in
Appendix A.
B. Conservation Area Description and Boundary
San Juan County is located in southeastern Utah and consists of 7,821 square miles (Figure 1). Approximately 6% of the county (324,921 acres) consists of 208 privately-owned farms which are engaged in agriculture. In 1994, agriculture enterprises in San Juan County generated over $13 million in income, slightly over 10% of the county's total personal income. In 1996, San Juan County ranked 5th among all Utah counties in total grain production with over 48,000 acres harvested.
The San Juan County Conservation Area (CA) boundary was delineated using current and historic habitats, sage grouse observations, and an assessment of the potential for remaining sagebrush areas in the county to provide suitable habitat. The CA encompasses rural areas, rural residential dwellings, and agricultural croplands. While it was necessary to include these areas because of their habitat potential, however, we make no inferences regarding any changes in existing land use. Individual landowner participation, although strongly encouraged by SWOG, is strictly voluntary.
C. Plan Process
SWOG recognizes that most of the Gunnison sage grouse in the county depend heavily on private lands for habitat. Thus, the San Juan County Gunnison Sage Grouse Conservation Plan (Plan) is committed to conserving and enhancing Gunnison sage grouse populations that occur on privately-owned land in the county and contribute to the economic viability of farms, ranches, and the local community. This Plan consists of two parts. The first part is the Habitat Conservation Assessment. The Assessment describes SWOG's current understanding about the status of sage grouse distributions, habitat conditions, and factors that may be affecting sage grouse populations in the county. Additional research is being planned to refine this information. The second part is the Conservation Strategy. The Strategy identifies the Plan goals and objectives, conservation actions, implementation schedules and responsibilities, evaluation guidelines, and monitoring requirements.
The Plan identifies conservation strategies to be implemented in guiding and coordinating management efforts across jurisdictional/land ownership boundaries to improve sage grouse habitat conditions and reverse the decline of Gunnison sage grouse populations in the county. The Plan is designed to be adaptive. New information obtained or issues identified, will be used to update the document and guide future implementation. This includes the results of ongoing management and research activities implemented in the county to conserve the grouse or its habitat where it occurs
D. Policies
Central to this conservation planning effort is the involvement and cooperation of local landowners, citizens, community leaders, and resource agencies. SWOG agrees to work collectively to implement appropriate management actions and activities that represent the interests of all stakeholders. The Plan establishes a framework for coordinated management and community-based grassroot support for the conservation of the species. SWOG agrees to:
strive for the long-term commitment of its members to fund, support, collect, analyze, and use the data and/or information collected regarding the development and implementation of the Plan to guide resource management decisions.
ensure maximum opportunity for public involvement in the planning and decision making process.
create an atmosphere of cooperation among all stakeholders by maintaining an open dialogue.
implement actions identified in the Plan in a manner that achieves sage grouse population and habitat objectives and contribute to a stable and diverse economic base in San Juan County.
integrate public and private natural resource agency and organization efforts to achieve maximum efficiency and benefits in implementation of conservation actions identified in the Plan.
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