Groups seek to protect endangered bird's Prairie dance floor

Six conservation groups launched a lawsuit against the federal environment minister on Valentine's Day to protect the Prairie habitat needed by the endangered sage grouse to strut its spectacular mating dance.

The bird, native to southeast Alberta and southwest Saskatchewan, gather in breeding grounds called leks every spring. The males fan out their tail feathers and puff air in and out of air sacs on their necks, pushing out their chests. They perform for several hours a day to attract females, while all birds hoot and cackle.

The display delights nature watchers from around the world. But the leks are being squeezed out by human activity, including oil and gas drilling, highway expansion and cattle grazing, say the groups.

The application launched Thursday asks a judge to reject Environment Canada's recovery strategy for the bird. The group argues the federal plan doesn't protect the breeding grounds critical for its survival, as required by Canada's Species at Risk Act. The birds have been on the endangered species list since 1998.

Research suggests human activity inhibits the sage grouse's courtship dance.

"We know that sage grouse in other areas, perhaps two kilometres or more, they're disturbed by human activities. In other words, if you've got a certain density out on the landscape they are affected by it," said Cliff Wallis, vice-president of the Alberta Wilderness Foundation, which is part of the legal action.

"The Alberta guidelines that are in place only use setbacks of 500 metres, so we have a wide disparity between what the birds need and what the provincial guidelines are."

The population of the birds in Canada has gone from 6,000 to about 600 in the last few decades, and the number of active dancing sites has gone from 82 to 17, according to Wallis.

Miriam Wood, spokeswoman for Environment Canada, said in an e-mail to the Canadian Press that some critical habitat for the grouse is protected through Parks Canada and further habitat will be identified by next December.

"The issue is currently before the courts and it wouldn't be proper to comment further," she wrote.