The Pentagon has set aside $2 million of taxpayer dollars for state and federal officials in Nevada to save the habitat of a species of bird, the greater sage grouse.
The grant was formally approved by the Pentagon’s Military Services’ Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration Program, the Associated Press reported. The funds will be used to save 11,000 acres of sage grouse habitat that’s been threatened in part by an airspace program run by the Defense Department, the Hill said.
The grant will be supplemented by another $2 million in matching funds, the news outlet reported.
The sage grouse’s habitat has been devastated in recent years and the species has seen a reported dramatic decline in population – so dramatic that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is mulling its addition to its endangered species list.
The Department of Interior has been discussing with state officials ways to manage land so the bird isn’t threatened. Lands owned by the Pentagon have been part and parcel of those discussions and the grant is aimed at making Interior’s press for endangered species listing an unnecessary action, the Hill reported.
“We are thrilled to be able to move forward at an increased pace to protect parcels of greater sage grouse habitat,” Nevada Department of Wildlife director Toney Wasley said, the AP reported.
