- Whoa, ho, ho!

(cows mooing) - [Narrator] For the last 10 years, ranchers and environmentalists have been working together to help an extraordinary bird.

(grouse lekking) - In the winter, they make a living solely on eating sagebrush.

They are super specialized.

- [Narrator] The goal of this historic conservation agreement is to keep the greater sage grouse off the endangered species list.

- A species that is listed makes life miserable, honestly.

- [Narrator] So far, it's been working all right.

- [Stacey] They've been able to hold the listing off.

- [Narrator] But there's a new threat.

On the Oregon-Nevada border, mining companies want to drill for lithium, a valuable metal in batteries for electric cars and renewable energy storage.

- [Skyler] There are about 30 known leks that are within a four-mile area of the lithium exploration site.

- [Narrator] Neighboring ranchers have been working to protect this prime sage grouse habitat.

(cows mooing) Now that protection could disappear.

- If that project goes in, I just don't see how we can coexist.

- [Narrator] And big questions loom over how to recover sage grouse across the West.

(grouse lekking) (engine starting) (engine rumbling) - [Jack] Private land takes up a lot of the West.

And a lot of that private land is really important habitat for wildlife species.

A lot of people I talk to actually are surprised that a ranch would hire a wildlife biologist full time.

(engine rumbling) - [Narrator] There aren't many people who get to do what Jack Hansen does for a living.

- The blinds are out here about 200 yards.

So we'll walk out there and get our chairs set up and hope we can see some birds.

- [Narrator] He's a full-time wildlife biologist for Roaring Springs Ranch in Southeast Oregon.

(wind blowing) (grouse lekking) - So we're out here this morning in the Skull Creek Basin.

Couple dozen birds out there right now.

I have an awesome job, one of the greatest in the world.

I just get to monitor the wildlife populations on the ranch.

This time of the year, I go out and count sage grouse every morning to get a good population estimate.

That estimate helps us know what we need to do as far as habitat work for the sage grouse to help improve their numbers.

- [Narrator] It's an unusual job that grew out of an unprecedented agreement to protect the greater sage grouse.

(grouse lekking) The birds have 11 mating sites called leks across 250,000 acres at Roaring Springs Ranch.

- [Jack] So a lek is pretty much just a congregation spot, a breeding ground where the males go and they basically do a, they strut for the females.

They show off.

They have these air sacks in their chest that they fill up with air.

You can hear that popping sound pretty distinctly.

(grouse lekking) - [Narrator] About a decade ago, the rapid decline of these birds across the West threatened to make them the spotted owl of the high desert.

- They were potentially gonna get listed on the endangered species list because of how poorly the populations were looking around the West.

And so a lot of these landowners, including Roaring Springs Ranch, and agencies, both state and federal and non-governmental organizations, stepped up and said, "Hey, we gotta do something about this."

(cows mooing) (ranchers chatting) - [Stacey] Spring in the high desert.

Go from sunshine to snow to sunshine to snow in a matter of hours.

- [Narrator] Ranchers like Stacey Davies did not want to see the sage grouse on the endangered species list.

- The ranch currently is about 8,000 mama cows, and we run 60 broodmares and four stallions.

And so we sell horses, cattle, and hay.

- [Narrator] An endangered species listing would add new restrictions on where ranchers can graze their cows and could even put them out of business.

- [Stacey] Go right over there and get that.

- Did that get it off?

- I would much rather focus on money going to healthy environments than regulation.

And a species that is listed makes life miserable, honestly.

- [Narrator] So he joined more than 1,000 ranchers across 11 Western states in the largest landscape-level conservation effort in US history.

(cows mooing) - [Stacey] And so you voluntarily agree to conservation measures that you will do to bring a species back to a healthy population.

(cows mooing) - [Narrator] Those measures require the ranch to monitor the sage grouse and improve the bird's habitat.

To make sure that work was done right, the ranch hired a professional.

(sage rustling) - [Jack] Sage grouse, they're low-flying birds.

And often, the problem is they will collide with barbwire fences.

Oftentimes, it'll kill 'em.

These reflectors, they'll reflect light and help those birds to see and be able to avoid those wires.

- [Narrator] Part of Hansen's job is to help the ranch coexist with sage grouse.

- [Jack] Cattle, they have an impact on sage grouse habitat.

But the ranch has taken a lot of measures over the years to mitigate those impacts as much as possible.

So, this is a guzzler.

Roaring Springs has installed a handful of these on the ranch to benefit not just sage grouse, but other wildlife species.

We have it fenced off to keep cows out.

And the idea is this tin collects rainwater, funnels it into this gutter, and then it in turn is funneled into this system here.

We put trail cameras on 'em.

We had a whole variety of things from chukars, and coyotes, deer, antelope, bobcats.

sage grouse primarily eat sagebrush.

And that's mostly what they use for cover, for food.

- [Narrator] The ranch is working to protect sage grouse habitat by reducing the biggest threats.

They remove invasive cheatgrass that's known for fueling wildfires and they've cut down some of these juniper trees that compete with native grasses.

- [Jack] Juniper trees are a native species as well, but they use a lot of water.

So, they'll use a lot of resources that sage grouse need to survive.

- [Narrator] All of this work appears to be paying off for sage grouse on the ranch.

- The last few years, we have seen an increase.

We've seen 13% increase two years ago, and then another 4% increase last year.

And this year's looking really good, looking really encouraging.

- [Narrator] And the cows are doing well, too.

- As we manage for ecosystem health, things that were good for fish are good for sage grouse, good for mule deer, but they're also good for the economics of the ranch.

It's a win-win to us.

- [Narrator] People like Skyler Vold are tracking just how well this voluntary effort is working.

(helicopter whirring) Surveys like this help to count sage grouse populations across the wide expanse of sagebrush in Southeast Oregon.

- We're out here in Frenchglen right now.

What we're doing here is searching for leks that we don't currently know about.

We've been out here for three days now and we've found three potential new leks so far.

- [Narrator] He helped document a jump in Oregon's sage grouse population in 2024 and 2025.

But the population is still down 33% from what it was historically.

(grouse lekking) - [Skyler] Historically, sage grouse lived on this vast area of sagebrush, the Sagebrush Sea.

And that's really what they like.

They need giant landscapes.

- [Narrator] Anything that breaks up that habitat can threaten the bird's survival, whether that's wildfire, renewable energy development, or mining operations.

- [Skyler] We're pretty concerned about that down in the McDermitt Caldera.

- [Narrator] Australia-based mining company, Jindalee Resources, has proposed exploratory drilling for lithium in the McDermitt Caldera near the Oregon-Nevada state line.

- [Skyler] There are about 30 known leks that are within a four-mile area of the lithium exploration site.

(grouse lekking) There is really no development.

And it's just a really intact Sagebrush Sea.

And if a giant open-pit mine were to go in here, it would not be good for these populations of sage grouse, let alone any other species in the caldera.

(cows mooing) - We're gonna start these things up the hill.

Hey!

(cows mooing) Whoa, ho, ho!

If somebody five years ago would've come to me and said, "I'll bet you a million dollars they open up a lithium mine in the caldera", I'd have bet my ranch they wouldn't because of the stuff that I'd been through with the fish and the sage grouse.

(cows mooing) - [Narrator] Over the past 30 years, rancher, Nick Wilkinson, has rearranged his entire ranching operation to protect threatened Lahontan cutthroat trout and declining sage grouse.

Keeping the cows from damaging their habitat meant cutting his herd in half and leasing more grazing land.

- I decided that we could not coexist with the fish and the sage grouse if we didn't figure out how to leave lots of feed, lots of cover for the sage grouse, forbs, shrubs on the stream bank.

(cows mooing) More expense, more equipment, more hired help.

It's very micromanaged to make it work.

I've done my due diligence.

I've learned a lot about the fish and I've learned a lot about the sage grouse.

It's been good for the cowman in me to learn more about how it all works.

- [Narrator] The mining company wants to build 34 miles of roads and drill hundreds of holes on the federal grazing lands Nick leases from the Bureau of Land Management.

- If that project goes in, I just don't see how we can coexist.

That's the only place we can turn these cattle loose this time of year.

- [Narrator] That mining claim is one of many surrounding Nick's ranch.

And he says this could be the end of his family business.

- So this is all claimed.

It's either uranium or lithium.

I realize we need clean energy.

I'm not gonna argue.

And I'm not gonna argue that it's not multiple use.

It is.

It's government ground.

It belongs to the public.

Go!

(cows mooing) But I want there to be some mitigation.

If you want to take away my operation and my grazing, then buy my ranch.

- [Narrator] A full-scale lithium mine would require a lot more permitting.

- Ho!

- [Narrator] Supporters say it would be good for the economy and the fight against climate change.

Jindalee says its project won't put any ranches out of business, but Nick still sees a threat, both to his ranch and the sage grouse he's been trying to help.

- We've been protecting that caldera.

We're just gonna destroy it?

If you let this happen, don't you dare ever open your mouth about listing that bird.

- [Narrator] It's not just this caldera.

A surge in mining and drilling proposals across the West is putting more and more habitat at risk.

That could upset the delicate balance these ranchers work so hard to strike with their sage grouse neighbors.

(grouse lekking) (no audio)