Effectiveness of Sharp-tailed Grouse Transplants in the Tobacco Valley, Montana

Abstract

Records extending back to 1861 document the presence of sharp-tailed grouse (Tympanuchus phasianellus) in the Tobacco Valley of northwestern Montana. However, following a similar trend throughout the species’ range, populations of sharp-tailed grouse in the Tobacco Valley declined sharply until only three males were observed on one lek by 1987. Seven years of transplanting birds (1987 to1997) increased the numbers of individuals on one lek and led to the establishment of a second lek that persisted for three years. After each of the transplant periods ended, the number of males counted at leks gradually declined until the last lek activity was recorded in 2000. Sharp-tailed grouse in the Tobacco Valley likely were extirpated by 2003.