FWIW, transplants have been successful in Utah. It appears the key in making this successful was a very aggressive predator control prior to the transplant. The control focused on red foxes and nest robbing birds (magpies and ravens). Through this and habitat work, in a 5-7 year period (I can't recall the exact time) that population went from an estimated 100ish to over 500.
IMO, a range wide listing of the bird would be silly. There are areas where LOTS of work is being done and the birds are responding well. It'd be a shame to not recognize and reward these efforts. Certain parts of northern Utah have more birds now than any time in the last 30 years, with most of that increase being in the past decade or so. If listing is needed, I think it should be done on a smaller scale, possibly even smaller than at a state scale. It's already being done like this for other species such as the pygmy rabbit.
Though I won't say that grazing cannot be a problem for the birds, there is a whole lot of info/data showing that grazing can be done in a manner that does not negatively impact sage grouse and can even help. If managed properly, grazing can be used to manipulate the vegetation to be better for sage grouse. It can be a tool to increase sagebrush in some areas and decrease it in others, depending upon the need of that local area. Yes, too much sagebrush can be a problem for sage grouse.
Couple of misc points. In the Intermountain West, overgrazing leads to an increase in sagebrush. This is largely through reduced competition giving sagebrush seedlings a leg up on grass species. The 'big' sagebrush species (basin, Wyoming, and mountain) are killed by fire and can take a long time to return to an area as they do not resprout, but have to re-establish via seeds. The dispersal distances per year is generally measured in feet.
