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grouse has caused me to study sagebrush steppe ecosystems (plants and animals) <br />throughout all western states and provinces including southern Routt County, Colorado <br />and other areas within northwest Colorado. This reseazch has led to more than 290 <br />scientific publications, mostly in peer-reviewed journals. <br />II. Comments <br />5. In preparing this declazation, I reviewed my prepared statement of <br />19 April 2005 to which I referred at a meeting of the Routt County Commissioners on 25 <br />Apri12005 in Yampa, Colorado in behalf of Greater sage-grouse in southern Routt <br />County, Colorado. I also reviewed the signed (1 September 2004) `Greater sage-grouse <br />Conservation Plan for Northern Eagle County and Southern Routt County', the Western <br />Governors' Association compilation on `Conserving the Greater sage-grouse' of June <br />2004, and the Federal Register [?0(8): 2244-2282) `Finding' by the U.S. Fish and <br />Wildlife Service. Further, I have reviewed the appropriate scientific literature on sage- <br />grouse and their habitats especially as relating to Greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus <br />urophasianus) in northwestern Colorado. <br />6. The sage-grouse is the most recognizable avian species of the <br />sagebrush steppe. This grouse is solely dependent on sagebrush for all of its' life <br />processes and is unique among all birds in its' use of the sagebrush steppe. For the <br />species to persist without extirpation, lazge tracts of mostly undisturbed sagebrush <br />habitats with minimal fragmentation must be provided. Thus, the presence ofsage-grouse <br />is a measure of the overall condition and health of the sagebrush habitat type. <br />?. The Greater sage-grouse population in South Routt County, <br />Colorado historically and recent]y was contiguous with other populations ofsage-grouse <br />2 <br />