Muledeer4me
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{"Two environmental groups have filed suit to close some livestock grazing allotments in the Stanley Basin and renew an injunction that protects wolves there from “predator control” by federal agents.
Western Watersheds Project and the Idaho Conservation League filed suit Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Boise. They want to protect wolves in Idaho´s Sawtooth National Recreation Area during the 2003 grazing season.
They contend the U.S. Forest Service has not met a court-ordered timetable for environmental reviews of eight grazing allotments, which they label “problem areas” for conflicts between the reintroduced wolves and livestock.
U.S. District Judge Lynn Winmill last July prohibited federal wildlife managers from automatically moving or killing wolves that tangle with cattle and sheep. The ruling expired at the end of last year´s season, and the groups want the injunction renewed.
“Even with the judge´s ruling last year, the Forest Service has done nothing to alter livestock grazing in the SNRA to help keep sheep off the wolves´ dinner table and wolves off the Wildlife Service´s hit list,” said Linn Kincannon of the Idaho Conservation League. “We will continue to press for wolf protection.”
A 1972 law created the scenic recreation area and gives wolves precedence over grazing. Winmill said those rules must be balanced with rules established in the 1990s, which directed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to move and eventually kill wolves that prey on stock. The two groups contend monitoring shows some wolves still live in the recreation area although Wildlife Services agents killed the Whitehawk pack of 11 animals in 2002.
In the past three years, at least 30 wolves have been killed or removed in and around the recreation area due to conflicts with livestock, the groups said.
About 4,470 sheep and 2,500 graze on 28 Forest Service allotments there, they said. "]
Edition Date: 02-26-2003
<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 02-26-2003 09:44: Message edited by: Muledeer4me ]</font>
Western Watersheds Project and the Idaho Conservation League filed suit Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Boise. They want to protect wolves in Idaho´s Sawtooth National Recreation Area during the 2003 grazing season.
They contend the U.S. Forest Service has not met a court-ordered timetable for environmental reviews of eight grazing allotments, which they label “problem areas” for conflicts between the reintroduced wolves and livestock.
U.S. District Judge Lynn Winmill last July prohibited federal wildlife managers from automatically moving or killing wolves that tangle with cattle and sheep. The ruling expired at the end of last year´s season, and the groups want the injunction renewed.
“Even with the judge´s ruling last year, the Forest Service has done nothing to alter livestock grazing in the SNRA to help keep sheep off the wolves´ dinner table and wolves off the Wildlife Service´s hit list,” said Linn Kincannon of the Idaho Conservation League. “We will continue to press for wolf protection.”
A 1972 law created the scenic recreation area and gives wolves precedence over grazing. Winmill said those rules must be balanced with rules established in the 1990s, which directed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to move and eventually kill wolves that prey on stock. The two groups contend monitoring shows some wolves still live in the recreation area although Wildlife Services agents killed the Whitehawk pack of 11 animals in 2002.
In the past three years, at least 30 wolves have been killed or removed in and around the recreation area due to conflicts with livestock, the groups said.
About 4,470 sheep and 2,500 graze on 28 Forest Service allotments there, they said. "]
Edition Date: 02-26-2003
<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 02-26-2003 09:44: Message edited by: Muledeer4me ]</font>
