i want to pause and say and other species that was a candidate for listing was the new england cottontailt. just at the end of last week, i was in new england -- new hampshire to be specific. senatornce alongside jeanne shaheen that the fisheries and wildlife service determined that a listing of that species was not warranted the cousin collaboration of all the new england states. it is endangered on some state registers and they have been working collectively for a number of years to reclaim habitat that was critical for that critter. on the landok place ambroise.d donna he is in the construction business, but they've got 57 acres. he said that he knew nothing about the new england cottontail, but he learned about habitats which are sections of force. that means forests were canned peas have opened up here tall trees, but shorter trees -- crabapples, fruit trees, and ground brush. that is the kind of habitat the rabbits need to thrive. i spoke with him and we were on his property for this event. another land owner, a banker who retired to 100 acres and did nothing about habitat, clear-cu

i want to pause and say another species that was a candidate was the new england cottontail rabbit. i was in new hampshire to announce alongside senator jeanne shaheen the fish and wildlife service determined a listing of that species was not warranted because of collaboration of all the new england states. it is endangered on some state registers, and they have been working collectively to reclaim habitats are critical for that. the event took place on the land of rick and donna ambroise. he is in the construction business. he said he knew nothing about the new england cottontail the learned about habitats which means with a canopy opened up, shorter trees, crabapples, and low-lying ground brush. thatthat is the kind of habitat the rabbit needs to thrive. i spoke with him. on his property for this event. another landowner clear-cut and planted some of this, and it is those kind of actions that have saved this particular species from extinction. the new england cottontail is a species that is an indicator the help. what rick ambrose told me was he has never seen so many birds so that

and he said he knew nothing about the new england cottontail, but he learned about habitats which are a successional forests, which means forests where the canopy has been opened up. not tall trees but shorter trees. crab and manies. apple trees, fruit trees, and low lying ground brush. and that's the kind of habitat that the rabbits need to thrive. so i spoke with him. we were on his property for this event. another landowner, actually a banker that retired to a hundred acres and knew nothing about habitat, clear-cut, which he said he wasn't otherwise inclined to do, and planted some of this successional growth forest. and it's those kinds of actions that have saved this particular specie, the new england cottontail, from extinction. the new england cottontail, like the greater sage grouse, is a specie that's an indicator of the health of an ecosystem. rick ambrose told me he has never seen so many birds and other critters on his property before in the time he's lived there since 1990. that's a preview of the epic collaboration happening across 11 western states. 60 million acres of

the new england cotton jnchts ta -- cottontail, like the sage grouse, is an indicator. rick ambrose told me he has never seen so many birds and critters on his property since the time he moved there in 1990. that's a preview of the epic collaboration happening across 11 states. 60 million acres of sage grouse habitat on public acres aalone. i think it's about 165 acres that has been winnowed away and threatened by a variety of sources over the course of many decades. so on or before september 30th, 15 days away, the fish and wildlife service will make a determination on whether the greater sage grass should be listed under the endangered species act or whether a listing is not warneranted. i will say that seven coresta s core states in particular, the effort on behalf of states, private landowners, nonprofit organizations, energy companies, developers, transmission companies, grazers, ranchers, cattlemen, has been incredible. so i will remain optimistic and hopeful that we can have a similar outcome but we are all waiting for the fish and wildlife service to make their