Hey Grouse listeners, Ashley here with a podcast recommendation for you – it's my newest series, Mustang, and it explores the complicated world of wild horses. Here's a sneak preview.

In the final episode of Grouse, Ashley returns to a lek in Washington with biologist Michael Schroeder and finds it scorched by recent wildfire. Michael cries as he looks out over an area that was once home to one of the largest remaining pockets of sage-grouse in the state. But he says he’s not ready to retire yet — there’s more work to be done.

In 2015 the Obama Administration hammered out a deal with leaders and land managers across the west that avoided listing the sage-grouse under the Endangered Species Act.

The sage grouse represents some of the biggest controversies in the Mountain West. From armed standoffs on public land in Nevada and Oregon, to explosive growth, wildfires, wild horses, big oil and fracking, every issue is connected to the sage grouse. This strange prehistoric bird is a hot button political issue.

Western Wyoming is home to many sage-grouse mating and nesting sites. And, in recent years, it’s also become a hub of oil and gas extraction.

The sage-grouse plays a big role in the cultural history of several western American Indian Nations. Wilson Wewa, an elder of the Northern Paiute of the Warm Springs Reservation in Oregon, still remembers the first time he saw a sage-grouse lek while gathering medicine with his grandfather.

There are a lot of people who say cows are one of the biggest problems in the West — and are making life a whole heck of a lot harder for sage grouse. But cows are also a symbol of a way of life that many in sagebrush country feel is under attack.

As the climate warms and invasive cheatgrass moves in, thousands of acres of sagebrush are burning across the West each year. And sage grouse are feeling the heat too, as the ecosystem shift destroys their habitat.

Join Ashley on a frigid trek through the snow in search of sage grouse with a scientist who has been studying the bird for decades. Michael Schroeder takes us on a journey through the frozen sagebrush and back in time to learn some scientific and cultural lore surrounding this bird. Will we find any birds today? Why are they in so much trouble? Should anyone care?