CODY - Not much is certain about the future of sage grouse in Wyoming - including the birds' undecided status as a potentially endangered species and their possible role in curbing oil, gas and even wind energy development.

But based on a number of sage grouse habitat improvement projects in development across the Bighorn Basin, one thing is certain: Boosting the bird's prospects is a slow and painstaking process.

"There's been a lot of good things that have happened, but a lot more still needs to be done," said Marvin Blakesley, a Cody-based oil and gas industry consultant and a member of the Bighorn Basin Sage Grouse Working Group.

Blakesley and other members of the group toured three sites Monday to check on long-running efforts at improving sage grouse habitat, including water development projects and expansive efforts at selective mowing and burning.

State and federal land managers, energy industry representatives, wildlife advocates and others are all working to boost sage grouse numbers across Wyoming as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service continues reviewing the bird's status.

A federal decision on whether to list sage grouse as a threatened or endangered species was expected this summer but has been delayed until next year.

With Wyoming home to more sage grouse than any other state, an endangered listing would mean significant restrictions on energy exploration, agriculture and other development across the state.

The dozen members of the local working group and others on Monday's tour didn't discuss politics or economics, focusing instead on the slow and largely unseen habitat improvements being made to benefit the bird.

Jack Mononi, lead rangeland and fuels management specialist for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, discussed a project under way since 2001 to diversify vegetation along the YU Bench, near Burlington.

What began as a survey of more than 100,000 acres ended up focusing on about 25,000 acres, with recent efforts aimed at prescribed burns and selective mowing of old sagebrush across nearly 6,000 acres, he said.

The goal, at a cost of about $40 per acre, is to use mowers to cut back the virtual monoculture of old sagebrush, encouraging new grasses, forbs and young sagebrush sprouts that benefit the grouse.

Results are tough to quantify, said Dustin Harrell, a BLM wildlife biologist, adding that similar work along Polecat Bench near Powell saw the arrival later of nearly 100 new sage grouse.

But in such harsh, arid country, significant changes in vegetation along the YU Bench could take a decade or more, he said.

In the McCullough Peaks, a $40,000 well project is producing plenty of water for cattle, wild horses, antelope and birds, using funds and in-kind assistance from a wide range of public and private sources, said Marshall Dominick, of Friends of a Legacy.

A windmill at the site of a refurbished 1942 well pumps water to a stock tank, with overflow piped to a protected reservoir with a ramp that is specially designed to exclude large mammals, but that allows grouse and other birds easy access.

With backing from a diverse group of supporters, ranging from donated labor from the Greater Yellowstone Coalition to nearly $50,000 from Marathon Oil, the working group is developing many other projects around the Bighorn Basin.

Blakesley said that most people aren't aware of the urgency of efforts to boost sage grouse numbers, or the potential complications to Wyoming's economy if the bird is listed as endangered.

"Folks that work and make their living on public lands are tuned in to it, but the endangered species act knows no boundaries," Blakesley said.

"If we can keep the bird off the list, it's a win-win for everybody involved," he said.

Contact Ruffin Prevost at rprevost@billingsgazette.com or 307-527-7250.