This page contains conservation information about the newly
designated species, the Gunnison Sage-grouse. As of January 11,
2013, Gunnison Sage-grouse were proposed to be listed as
Endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under the
Endangered Species Act. Since the late 1970's researchers became
aware that the sage-grouse in the Gunnison Basin of Colorado
were unique from sage-grouse found elsewhere in most of the
United States. In 1995, Drs. Clait Braun and Jessica Young
proposed that the Gunnison Sage-grouse was a distinct species
and, along with Drs. Jerry Hupp, Sara Oyler-McCance and Tom
Quinn, they published their findings in the Wilson Bulletin
(Young et al. 2000), for which they were awarded the Edward's
Prize for the best major article published by that journal that
year. The American Ornithological Union recognized the Gunnison
Sage-grouse as a newly named species in 2000, after a review of
the scientific data by the AOU Nomenclature Committee, which
consists of the leading taxonmic specialis