A coalition of environmental groups is filing suit over the Trump administration’s December decision to open up sagebrush lands for energy and mineral development. The lawsuit covers greater sage-grouse management plans for Montana, Idaho, Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nevada, California, Utah and Wyoming.
“There’s no scientific support for claims that these plans will save sage grouse, and no public support for them either,” said Randi Spivak of the Center for Biological Diversity, a plaintiff in the case. “The greater sage-grouse’s fate is tied to hundreds of other animals who all rely on the Sagebrush Sea.”
The lawsuit, brought by seven environmental groups in the U.S. District Court in Montana, alleges the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) violates several federal laws by “disregarding the best available science” that shows energy development causes greater sage-grouse populations to decline.
The lawsuit contends that the new management plans eliminate several sagebrush habitat protections, including the requirement that BLM propose a mineral withdrawal for 11 million acres of sage grouse habitat across eight western states. The new plan also removed requirements that prioritized new oil and gas leasing outside sage grouse habitat.
“The limitations on livestock grazing, oil and gas development, and mining in the original plans are now being cast aside in a rush to accelerate industrial and commercial activities and destroy the wild places and wildlife that make the American West unique,” said Erik Molvar, executive director of Western Watersheds Project, another suit plaintiff.
Plan details
The BLM’s 2025 Records of Decision (RODs) approving Resource Management Plan Amendments for greater sage-grouse management in the nine states at issue in the lawsuit encompass 71 million acres of BLM-managed land. The agency last amended the land use plans in 2015 to strengthen sage grouse protections against oil and gas drilling, mining and livestock grazing.
The December ROD included eight states, while plans for Colorado and Oregon were completed earlier in the year. The lawsuit does not challenge the Oregon ROD, which is already subject to a preliminary injunction and ongoing litigation in the case Oregon Natural Desert Association v. Raby.
Across the 10 western states, the 2025 RODs amended goals, objectives and management plans for 77 resource management plans. Agency officials said the amendments strengthened conservation efforts while allowing flexibility for energy and mineral development.
“The updated approach makes more acres available in some areas for development than the 2015 plans allowed while continuing to protect key habitat across approximately 65 million acres of sagebrush lands that sustain more than 350 wildlife species,” BLM said in a December news release.
Opponents argue the greater sage-grouse is still in decline despite a decade of management under the 2015 plans. The lawsuit contends that populations have dropped nearly 80% since 1966.
Industry groups applauded the final amendments, saying the plans recognize the role of cattle producers and follow the best science. Conservation groups vowed to challenge the plans in court from the beginning, arguing the plan amendments stripped critical protections from the greater sage-grouse. — Anna Miller, Fortozo, WLJ managing editor
