OPB

Ranchers in southeast Oregon helped keep sage grouse off the endangered list. Now, lithium mining could pose a new threat

Biologist Jack Hansen started up an ATV and drove through a dark sea of sagebrush just before dawn on a snowy morning in early April. This is what he does every spring morning to monitor about a dozen ...
The Bulletin

Oregon’s first sage grouse ‘conservation bank’ in operation

Developers who want to build solar or wind farms, mine for gold or lithium, or pursue other projects that harm sage grouse habitat have a new option to satisfy Oregon’s requirements to protect the ...
OPB

OPB’s First Look: Sage grouse, lithium pose ‘environmental paradox’ in southeast Oregon between conservation and clean energy

A mining company hopes to begin exploratory drilling for lithium in the heart of southeastern Oregon, a high desert habitat home to sage grouse. This morning, OPB’s science and environment journalist ...