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Fish and wildlife

It’s midnight in northern Montana, not far from the Alberta border. A team of wildlife biologists are gathered around their all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), checking their equipment and preparing to launch an important translocation operation. Once they identify their target and capture it, they will have only a few hours to give it a medical checkup and transport it to the Canada-U.S. border crossing, then hand it off to a second team who will deliver it to a designated site in southern Alberta.

This may sound like the setup of a movie, but in fact it’s the work of the Government of Alberta, Government of Montana and University of Lethbridge researchers this past spring, as part of a research project that could help determine the future of Alberta’s Greater Sage-Grouse population (hereafter called Sage-Grouse). The bird was listed as 'endangered' under the Alberta Wildlife Act in 2000.

“We’ve been working on a number of conservation plans to improve the population including increased oil and gas reclamation in sagebrush habitats,” said Joel Nicholson, Senior Wildlife Biologist with Environment and Protected Areas (EPA), who was in Montana that night.

Nicholson said funding from the University of Lethbridge, EPA and the Office of the Chief Scientist (OCS) has enabled more focused research to further inform Alberta’s Sage-Grouse recovery options.

“The stars have aligned,” Joel said.

A key part of the project is to translocate more birds from Montana to Alberta and determine how they respond to recent grassland reclamation efforts.

Growing up on a ranch in southern Alberta, Joel became interested in wildlife at an early age while watching documentaries about biologists capturing wildlife and putting transmitters on animals. He’s now been working on grassland species at risk with EPA for 24 years, and has participated in all four Sage-Grouse translocations from Montana between 2011 and 2024. He was also one of the wildlife biologists working the night shift to move hens from Montana to Alberta this year.

Two men sitting in chairs holding a sage-grouse hen, putting a GPS transmitter on it
EPA’s Simon Slater and Joel Nicholson putting a solar GPS transmitter on a Sage-Grouse hen. Photo credit: Matt Becker, Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks

The 2-person field teams locate and capture the birds near active lek sites using ATVs, spotlights and a net at the end of a long pole. The team searches their designated area to look for shining eyes nestled in the sagebrush. Once a bird is spotted, one of the team members holds the light to keep the bird distracted while the other approaches with the net. The netter has to be nimble and quick to be able to place the net carefully over the bird. Once the bird is in the net, it’s transferred carefully to a padded box and handed off to a ‘bird runner’ who brings captured hens to a field station while the field team continues their search. At the field station, Joel waits with a Montana government veterinarian to take measurements, draw blood and swabs to ensure the birds are healthy. They then attach the solar-powered GPS transmitter and usher the hens into individual padded cardboard crates. From there a separate team drives all birds captured that night to the border, where U.S. and Canadian government veterinarians make sure that documentation is in order to facilitate the border crossing. From there, the birds are transferred into custody of a Canadian team, which drives them to a release site in Alberta.

Unique birds

Sage-Grouse hen standing in a field
Translocated Sage-Grouse hen with GPS transmitter released in Alberta’s sagebrush habitat. Photo credit: EPA

Sage-Grouse are the largest grouse species in North America and uniquely adapted to the sagebrush habitat found throughout portions of the northern great plains once dominated by herds of bison. They are widespread across the sagebrush plains of the western United States, with populations, albeit declining, found across 11 U.S. states. In Canada, only 2 small populations of Sage-Grouse remain in the sagebrush habitat of southeastern Alberta and southwestern Saskatchewan. Sage-Grouse have been extirpated from habitats they once occupied in southern British Columbia.

Though Sage-Grouse are strong fliers, they spend most of their time on the ground, generally living in the area where they were hatched and only moving seasonally between breeding, nesting and wintering areas, or to access better habitat. They rely on sagebrush plants for most of their diet.

“Sage-Grouse are uniquely adapted to thrive on sagebrush by excreting toxins present in these plants and then actually gaining weight in the winter with a diet of nothing but sage,” Joel explained.

Perhaps most importantly for Alberta’s populations, Sage-Grouse are sensitive to disturbance, and tend to be stressed by the presence of human activity and associated noise.

Male Sage-Grouse standing in a field under a blue sky
Male Sage-Grouse in Alberta. Photo credit: EPA

In 1968, Government of Alberta biologists first started monitoring Sage-Grouse leks, the sites where males perform intricate displays to attract females during spring. Historically, there were 38 recorded lek sites in Alberta with a population of approximately 2,000 to 3,000 birds. Today, only 3 known leks remain active, with a small number of birds present. The reasons for this decline have been generally understood for some time: anthropogenic degradation and fragmentation of native sagebrush dominated habitats have stressed the population, reducing the survival of broods and creating new opportunities for predators that feed on Sage-Grouse.

“If you put anything on the prairie that’s taller than a sagebrush plant, it’s probably a negative for the Sage-Grouse,” said Joel.

Predators like crows, owls and hawks can perch on taller structures to find and target nests and birds on the ground. Power lines, pump jacks and many other man-made structures are therefore a threat to Sage-Grouse, and in the presence of such dangers, the birds often avoid those areas resulting in additional habitat loss.

Excess noise is a similar challenge. Sage-Grouse rely on sound for communication, mating and the detection of danger. Introducing the sound of human activity to the grassland environment can stress birds, and takes away some of their ability to survive.

“Sage-Grouse are amazing birds that are highly specialized to sagebrush steppe habitat,” said Joel. “It’s impressive, but this specialization is also their downfall.”

Conservation challenges

In 1997, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) was the first to sound alarms about the Sage-Grouse population, designating them as ‘threatened’. In 1998, they were upgraded to the status of ‘endangered’ under the federal Species at Risk Act, just before Alberta’s government listed them as ‘endangered’ in 2000. Since then, many efforts have been undertaken to improve the odds for Sage-Grouse recovery, including significant habitat restoration, augmenting the population with translocated birds from the U.S., and a captive breeding program led by the Calgary Zoo.

In 2011, the Government of Alberta began working with Montana’s Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks on a more intensive translocation program, bringing over 150 wild-caught birds across the border in 4 translocation events with the most recent translocation in spring of 2024.

“We’ve developed a good collaborative relationship with Montana, and really have a lot of respect for their work and willingness to support Sage-Grouse recovery in Alberta,” Joel said.

An additional 147 birds from the Calgary Zoo’s breeding program have also been released. However, this collective injection of almost 300 Sage-Grouse into the wild didn’t much help overall population numbers.

“We saw an increase from 13 displaying males at the known leks in 2011 to just 18 in 2023,” Joel said, “That puts the total population, not including the 39 newly translocated birds from 2024, at probably around 50 or 60 birds”.

In the last 5 years, the Government of Alberta has intensified its efforts, working with conservation groups to add over 5,000 acres of protected habitat through land purchases and easements. In that time, more than 400 oil and gas wells have been decommissioned in Sage-Grouse habitat, and more focused reclamation programs have planted sagebrush plants throughout the area, while removing power poles and other perches for predators.

“We’re seeing more reclamation on the landscape than I’ve ever dreamt of in my career. The hope is to keep our population on the landscape long enough for it to respond to this reclamation work,” Joel said.

Lessons to learn

In recent years, the EPA team behind the Sage-Grouse program has tried to integrate research whenever possible. For example, a University of Regina master’s student helped study the movement of birds after release, formalizing the team’s understanding of how hens would avoid elevated structures, and what habitats they preferred.

With funding from the OCS and the University of Lethbridge, the new project, ‘Response of endangered Sage-Grouse to oil and gas reclamation in critical habitat in southeastern Alberta’, intends to build on these findings to inform updated recovery strategies for Alberta's Sage-Grouse population.

As teams bring hens across the border into Alberta, it’s not just EPA staff monitoring the process. Postdoctoral fellow Dr. Melissa Chelak and faculty member Dr. Theresa Burg based at the University of Lethbridge are also paying close attention. Melissa has previously worked on translocation projects for grouse in the western United States, studying the movement and population dynamics of relocated birds through various habitats, before moving to Canada to support Sage-Grouse research in Alberta.

Woman holding a Sage-Grouse hen
Dr. Melissa Chelak holding a Sage-Grouse hen in Montana in spring 2024. Photo credit: EPA

“I’m so happy to help answer these ecologically important questions for the recovery of Alberta’s Sage-Grouse population. Having done my graduate work on another recovery program closer to the southern edge of the Sage-Grouse range, I now get to participate in a unique experience of seeing Sage-Grouse space-use across Alberta's sagebrush prairie at the northern edge of their range,” said Melissa.

As part of this team, Melissa will analyze approximately 250,000 location signals from GPS transmitters placed on hens released in Alberta since 2011 to better understand factors affecting their movements and survival.

“This is the first time we’re looking at the effects of oil and gas reclamation on translocated grouse, adding to the body of literature on Sage-Grouse habitat reclamation as a whole”, explained Melissa. “It’s so special to be part of this cross-border collaboration. I look forward to helping improve Alberta’s Sage-Grouse recovery program.”

Publishing research about that understanding will also help share Alberta’s expertise with other researchers and conservation programs across North America for a broader contribution to Sage-Grouse conservation.

Sunrise in Alberta

The release of wild-caught hens from Montana is carefully managed. After being driven to one of Alberta’s active leks just before sunrise, the hens are inspected one more time to make sure they’ve come through the journey safely.

Sage-Grouse hens being released from wooden boxes in a field at sunrise
Sage-Grouse hens being released in Alberta. Photo credit: EPA

Just before dawn breaks, they are set free. This time is chosen because the resident males are typically most active at that time of day and are most likely to notice the new arrivals.

"The translocated Sage-Grouse hens are now settling into their new habitat and surroundings”, said Mecah Klem, Priority Species at Risk Biologist with EPA and lead of the release team. “Through GPS tracking technology we have watched these hens frequent Alberta leks to breed and flock up with resident wild birds in the area.”

Birds will be closely monitored for the next 3 years. Joel, meanwhile, reiterates that it’s important to remember that progress doesn’t happen by accident.

“I can’t stress enough that the only reason this is possible is because of a big team of people,” Joel said. “From the partnership with Montana’s government, to the support provided by EPA staff and leadership, local governments and conservation organizations, there are so many people involved in Sage-Grouse conservation efforts.”

Two Sage-Grouse hens flying over a field under a blue sky
Two translocated Sage-Grouse hens flying across sagebrush habitat in Alberta. Photo credit: EPA

“We’re restoring thousands of acres of sagebrush habitat, and we’re learning more about how to help newly translocated Sage-Grouse succeed. Thanks to government-university research partnerships like this one, I truly hope we can restore self-sustaining populations of these iconic grassland birds.”

Additional resources

  • Photo of the Chief Scientist, Dr. Jonathan Thompson.

    Dr. Jonathan Thompson

    Dr. Jonathan Thompson was appointed as Alberta Environment and Park’s Chief Scientist on October 13th, 2020.

    Learn more

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