Judge shutters Idaho grazing allotment

[Oak]

Comments???

BOISE, Idaho (AP) - A federal judge has ordered a western Idaho rancher
to keep his sheep off his family’s traditional grazing ground on public
land to protect wild native bighorns. Federal land managers on Monday
opted not to fight the ruling.

U.S. District Judge Lynn Winmill ruled last week that a pact between a
Salmon River rancher and the state to keep his domestic herd separate
from bighorns on a Bureau of Land Management allotment fell short of a
2009 law aimed at helping Idaho’s ranching industry and protecting the
native wild sheep.

The Wilderness Society, Western Watersheds Project and Hells Canyon
Preservation Council had all contended that a bighorn herd near Riggins
was in danger of catching deadly diseases if the allotment near
Partridge Creek opened to domestic herds on schedule Thursday.

The number of Idaho bighorns has dwindled by half since 1990 to about
3,500 after several mass die-offs. Wildlife managers believe bighorns
can catch diseases such as pneumonia when they come into contact with
domestic sheep. Winmill said he was trying to prevent more outbreaks.

"Irreversible damage is possible here," Winmill wrote in his 17-page
ruling. "Bighorns could become infected and roam far up-river in the
Salmon River drainage, infecting the other native bighorns along the
way, causing large-scale losses."

This year, Idaho lawmakers passed a plan requiring the state Department
of Fish and Game director to certify that the risk of disease
transmission between bighorn and domestic sheep was "acceptable for the
viability of the bighorn sheep" once ranchers and the state had crafted
Best Management Practices, or BMPs, to keep the two species apart.

The state and rancher Mick Carlson, whose family has grazed the
Partridge Creek allotment since 1937, negotiated such an agreement in
August. Among other things, he agreed to have two herders, three guard
dogs and three herding dogs with each band of sheep. He was also allowed
to kill bighorns that wandered into his herd.

In his ruling Winmill said that agreement relied on voluntary compliance
and could not be enforced by the Bureau of Land Management.

"The director here certified that the risk has been reduced to an
acceptable level," the judge wrote. "Acceptable to who? Acceptable under
what standard?

"These questions are not answered," Winmill added. "There is no
certification in this case that upon implementation of the BMPs, the
risk of disease transmission will be acceptable for the viability of the
bighorn sheep."

Another hearing on Winmill’s order to close the grazing allotment was
planned for Nov. 2. But the Bureau of Land Management on Monday asked
the judge to cancel that court date and said it would live by his order
until it had a chance to do a new environmental analysis on the effects
of grazing at Partridge Creek on wild bighorns.

The judge "found fundamental flaws in (Idaho’s law) that rendered the
Idaho Department of Fish and Game’s certification of the Partridge Creek
allotment meaningless and irrelevant in this case," the federal agency’s
lawyers wrote in their filing Monday. "For those reasons, the BLM does
not oppose imposition of an injunction in this case until such time as
an environmental analysis has been completed."

State Fish and Game officials did not respond to a request for comment.

Jon Marvel, director of Western Watersheds in Hailey, said Winmill’s
order underlined the weakness of Idaho’s new law.

"These Best Management Practices are, first of all, voluntary, and
second, there is no testimony in the record from any scientist that
concludes that they will be effective in protecting bighorn sheep."

The Nez Perce Tribe, which opposes the grazing on its traditional
homeland, called the decision a victory for bighorns.

"The use of BMPs to try and create separation between domestic and
bighorn sheep in occupied bighorn sheep habitat is not supported by
scientific literature or scientists," said Brooklyn Baptiste,
Vice-Chairman of the Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee.


Carlson, who has already been barred from grazing on nearby U.S. Forest
Service allotments, argued in court that he cannot run his operation in
a profitable manner if more than 800 of his sheep are kept away from
Partridge Creek.

A phone call to Carlson was not returned, but in court he contended it
would cost him about $9,000 if he was forced to restrict his sheep to
his private ground along the Salmon River and to the south in Emmett.

 

[duckhead59]

Very interesting...I applaude the judges willingness to set aside some of the land for the benefit of the wildsheep. I hope this sets a trend where other cases will be ruled upon in favor of the benefits to wildlife and not to the grazing of domestic animals.

 

[shoots-straight]

Little steps. At least one is forward this time.

 

[JoseCuervo]

Very interesting...I applaude the judges willingness to set aside some of the land for the benefit of the wildsheep. I hope this sets a trend where other cases will be ruled upon in favor of the benefits to wildlife and not to the grazing of domestic animals.

If you want to support hunting on Public Lands in the West, I suggest you send contributions to Western Watersheds. They are incredibly efficient in turning small amounts of $$$$ into victories for hunters.

 

[TheTone]

If you want to support hunting on Public Lands in the West, I suggest you send contributions to Western Watersheds. They are incredibly efficient in turning small amounts of $$$$ into victories for hunters.

Do they have an official position on hunting?

 

[Dinkshooter]

Woohoo!!! Can;t wait for the next one.

 

[belly-deep]

Amazing. Maybe it will happen in MT soon? Not with sheep neccessarily, but with any sort of big game. Putting a public resource ahead of livestock on public land...what a concept...

 

[1_pointer]

Guessing that this case may have a bit to do with the recent data call I have to process.