Skyler Vold, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s greater sage grouse expert, wakes up before the sun each spring morning to watch the sage grouse dance.

The lawsuit claims the plan would eradicate habitat for imperiled sage grouse and pinyon jays with techniques including “chaining” — the dragging of an anchor chain from a U.S.

The area also includes habitat for the greater sage grouse as well as bighorn sheep, mule deer and pronghorn antelope.

That process should have taken months but instead dragged on nearly 12 years because of lawsuits and disputes over issues such as the protection of sage grouse habitat.

That’s meant pressing LS Power, for instance, to do more to limit potential harm to sage grouse and migrating pronghorn at Lava Ridge — a wind farm that Hayes doesn’t yet support but hopes to eventually.