Tatiana Gettelman tracking Fishers in California.

From Southern Idaho through Eastern Nevada a transmission line is being built that will transfer power to growing areas in the West. Part of the line passes through areas that Greater sage-grouse use for lekking and rearing their young. Lekking refers to the dramatic displays that sage-grouse males perform each spring to show off their prowess to watching females. To study the possible effects of this line on grouse and other native birds, the Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW), U. S. Geological Survey (USGS), and Idaho State University have teamed up in a ten year wildlife monitoring project. Crew leader Tatiana Gettelman will be filming the research conducted in the remote mountains and sage-steppe of Northeastern Nevada during the 2012 spring. This will be a diverse project, with everything from trapping and tracking sage grouse, to bird surveys and lek counts. It’s going to be an exciting spring and summer, and with the possible endangered species listing of the Greater sage-grouse in 2015, this research will be vital to understanding the possible impacts of developments like this transmission line.