As Wyoming sage grouse near their cyclic high, northeastern population tumbles

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Wildlife ecologist Chris Kirol has spent time of late surveying what used to be some of the last big tracts of sagebrush left in the Powder River Basin.

The veteran researcher has been looking for native vegetation like sagebrush, and also for the chalk-colored cylindrical droppings that are a telltale sign of where one of the biome’s icons, sage grouse, have been spending their time. On a Friday afternoon survey, Kirol took a call from WyoFile and described the landscape all around him, which had been completely transformed and for the worse.

“It’s almost completely dominated by cheatgrass and Japanese brome,” Kirol said, noting two noxious, nonnative grasses.