Western Nevada College students inventory piñon pines at Wild Oat Mountain above Topaz Lake in southern Douglas County. Photo special to The R-C by Robin Eppard
Nearly a decade after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service determined the bi-state sage grouse didn’t require listing, the bird is back under consideration and is joined by a more visible feathered denizen of the Pine Nuts.
A petition to list the bright blue pinyon jay as an endangered species is being evaluated by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
The 90-day finding on the petition was announced Aug. 17 in the Federal Register initiating a status review for the jay and four other species.
The petition was submitted by the nonprofit Defenders of Wildlife on April 25, 2022, based on concerns that thinning piñon forests were negatively affecting the jay. Thinning is conducted to reduce fire danger and to improve habitat for another potentially threatened species, the bi-state sage grouse.
According to the service, a positive 90-day petition finding doesn’t indicate that listing is warranted, only that a full review should occur.
The public comment period for a proposed listing rule on the bi-state sage grouse closed June 26, according to the Fish & Wildlife Service.
“The service is reviewing and addressing public comments received as we work toward our anticipated final determination on the proposed rule in May 2024,” said Public Affairs Officer Susan Sawyer. “This anticipated timeline allowed for substantive public comment and consideration of new information.”
The bi-state grouse lives along the Nevada California border. Very few of the birds have been spotted in the Pine Nuts since the big fires of the last decade, though studies indicated the birds were doing well before 2012.
It has been 10 years since the July 4, 2013, Bison Fire claimed 24,136 acres in the Pine Nuts, becoming the largest blaze in Douglas County history.
The pinyon jay was the subject of a June 2023 paper produced by Western Nevada College students Elijah Smith, Nathan Boyd, Maile Pierson, Hailey Wagstaff under the supervision of instructor Robin A. Eppard.
A species of corvid, native to the piñon-juniper woodlands of the Great Basin, the jays have been in decline at a rate of 4 percent a year since the 1960s, and the cause has been a mystery.
“Possible causes for their decline could be tied to the land management practices related to ranching, wildlife and fire,” according to the project description. “There is a fundamental lack of knowledge about how pinyon jays manage their habitat. It is difficult to define how current land uses affect pinyon jay populations.”
One place where the jay’s habitat has not been studies is Wild Oat Mountain above Topaz Lake.
“Multiple fires to the north, west and south of Wild Oat Mountain have reduced the adjoining piñon-juniper woodland and habitat.”
According to the study the birds are at 15 percent of their population in the 1960s.
The jays eat pine nuts, and a survey of the trees conducted by the students indicated even growth and abundant cone production.
“This along with numerous saplings, minimal tree mortality and a robust understory suggests this area of the piñon pine forest at Wild Oat Mountain is in good condition.”
This summer was the first that students were able to work.
“The research on a local population of pinyon jays just started this past summer, and we are waiting for more funding to continue the work,” said Eppard, who teaches liberal arts and ornithology at Western Nevada College.
She said it appears the college will be offering the introductory course in the spring.
