What protection does the Endangered Species Act provide to candidate species?
They get no statutory protection under the Endangered Species Act. The Fish and Wildlife Service encourages cooperative conservation efforts for them because they are, by definition, species that may warrant future protection under the Endangered Species Act. Can you still hunt sage grouse? Managed hunting of sage grouse still will be allowed. Hunting season is about a week long in late September. Hunters are allowed to shoot two sage grouse per day and have a total of four in their possession. Hunting will be prohibited if and when the sage grouse is put on the endangered species list. Why weren’t sage grouse listed? A combination of human and environmental impacts have reduced sage grouse numbers the past 100 years. Fire, invasive species, agriculture and energy development have been the biggest factors, said Tom Strickland, Assistant Secretary of U.S. Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Sage grouse populations have declined 90 percent from historic levels. Its habitat has shrunk by 50 percent
