To Help Wild Sheep; WWP Files Suit to Ban Range Maggots

[JoseCuervo]

In an effort to improve hunting and fishing in Idaho, WWP once again goes to bat for hunters and fishermen....

Sheep grazing plan for Sawtooths challenged
Western Watersheds, local doctor file suit against Forest Service


A local conservation group and medical doctor have teamed up to file a lawsuit that takes on one of Central Idaho's most historic and long-standing industries.

Western Watersheds Project and Dr. Randall Hermann filed suit Friday, May 13, in federal court in Boise against the U.S. Forest Service, alleging the agency's new sheep grazing management plan covering more than 150,000 acres of the Sawtooth National Forest violates federal law.

Under the forest's decision, released last October, sheep grazing will continue to be authorized, but with some modifications, on four grazing allotments on national forest lands near Ketchum. The Baker Creek, North Fork-Boulder, Fisher Creek and Smiley Creek allotments were included in the decision.

Ketchum District Ranger Kurt Nelson and Sawtooth National Recreation Area Ranger Sara Baldwin signed decisions for grazing allotments within their respective jurisdictions. Collectively, the decisions included 147,000 acres of national forest range contained in four grazing allotments.

The decisions followed completion of the North Sheep Final Environmental Impact Statement.

"Our decision is to update the allotment management plans for these four allotments," Nelson said in October. "We are also authorizing sheep grazing in a manner that will meet our forest plan standards for livestock management throughout the allotments."

But for Hermann, of Ketchum, and Western Watersheds Project, based in Hailey, the forest managers didn't go far enough.

"The Forest Service is allowing the status quo to continue in order to satisfy the interests of a few livestock owners, while fish and wildlife and the public suffer the consequences," said Jon Marvel, executive director of Western Watersheds Project.

The plaintiffs claim the Forest Service did not adequately assess the environmental impacts of sheep grazing within the Sawtooth National Recreation Area and surrounding forest lands, and is allowing excessive grazing that will continue to harm fish and wildlife and conflict with recreation use inside the area.

The four grazing allotments occur in or adjacent to the SNRA, which is highly valued for its natural resources and recreation opportunities, Marvel pointed out.

The allotments contain habitat for bull trout, steelhead trout and chinook salmon, which are listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act, as well as for sage grouse, wolves, and bighorn sheep. In addition, several of the streams in the allotments are eligible for designation as Wild and Scenic Rivers.
But sheep grazing also has deep roots in the Sawtooth National Forest.

"Grazing remains a legitimate use of the Sawtooth National Forest and the SNRA," the EIS states as a beginning baseline.

Since the late 1800s, range in the Stanley Basin and the upper Big Wood River drainage have provided summer grazing for bands of sheep following seasonal patterns of movement through the region.

Sheep numbers peaked in the early 1900s, and grazing damage was widely evident. Grazing allotments were established by the Forest Service in 1907 to begin controlling grazing and the associated impacts.

In 1907, 364,000 sheep were permitted on the forest, primarily using the north end, which represents the current configuration of the forest, and Ketchum was one of the largest sheep shipping railheads in North America.

Sheep numbers have steadily declined since the early 1900s. Sheep numbers are currently about 24,900, a 93 percent reduction from historic peaks.

"Despite this reduction, past overgrazing has left its mark on the Sawtooth National Forest; largely unmanaged, exploitative grazing resulted in loss of soil and soil productivity, changes in vegetation communities, and impacts on fish and wildlife species," according to the EISs. "With reduced stocking and improved range management, conditions have vastly improved, though evidence of desired vegetation conditions have not been maintained through the current level of grazing."

The EIS concludes that grazing management must "reflect the need for continued progress in reversing the impacts of historic grazing."

"The Forest Service acknowledges that sheep grazing in the area has damaged the streams and riparian areas, as well as the upland sagebrush habitat and has caused conflicts with recreation users," according to a press release from Western Watersheds.

Yet, according to the lawsuit, the new grazing plan fails to adjust levels of grazing across most of these allotments to address this harm. And the plan continues to allow sheep to graze areas that the agency has determined should not be grazed, without even conducting an analysis of the environmental consequences.
"To comply with federal law, the Forest Service must make changes in their grazing plan that will ensure protection of fish, wildlife, vegetation, and recreation resources," said Laurie Rule, an attorney for Advocates for the West, which is representing Hermann and Western Watersheds Project. "At the very least, it must thoroughly assess the environmental impacts of its decision. Because it has not done so, we are asking the court to set aside the new grazing plan for these four allotments."

 

[Ithaca 37]

Go gettum, Jon!! I can already see this is going to be winner! Thanks, on behalf of anyone who appreciates wildlife!

 

[Bambistew]

Better be careful... Where will your wool products come from if we ban all sheep on public land?

 

[Ithaca 37]

Bambi, You can't actually be that uninformed, can you? Do you know anything at all about where most wool used in the US comes from? Do you know anything at all about the gummint wool subsidy? Do some research before you ask questions like that!

 

[JoseCuervo]

Bambi,
If you want some "aggrevating" reading, read up on the wool subsidy. It is ridiculous beyond belief....

 

[BigHornRam]

Two of the three fools, I think Bambi's post was what you call sarcasim. Around here they are trying to revive the sheep industry by using them to control weeds. It is a real concern amongst the wild sheep supporters but so are the weeds.

 

[mtmiller]

Haha, the Idaho boys forgot to pull off their blinders. He was making a joke.

 

[JoseCuervo]

I was gonna make a joke about Montana and Sheep, but I thought it a better opportunity to have Bambistew read up on the subsidy.

Hey BHR,
What do you think of the subsidy for wool??? Are you happy with MY tax dollars being wasted on it?

 

[BigHornRam]

Jose,

I am against ALL subsidies including the wool subsidy. It's doubtfull that you pay much in taxes working under the table the way you do, so that's not an issue here.

 

[Bambistew]

Tough crowd... I thought you guys were a little "quicker" than that... Did you miss the short bus this morning...

I know about the subsidies and what not... My family was in the sheep business for a few decades... We got out because it got to be more work than it was worth...

BTW... how much does the average sheep rancher recieve in wool subsidies? Last time we sold wool about 6-7 years ago if I remember right it cost almost as much to pay the sheep shearer than we got from the wool...

 

[mtmiller]

My family was in the sheep business for a few decades... We got out because it got to be more work than it was worth...

And I thought it was because they outlawed prostitution.

 

[BigHornRam]

"I remember right it cost almost as much to pay the sheep shearer than we got from the wool..."

What kind of lazy ass rancher were you anyway, hiring a sheep shearer? And I'll bet he was illegal too!

 

[JoseCuervo]

BHR,
Only you would be interested in wrestling a sheep around with a vibrating instrument....

If he didn't hire a shearer, we would think less of him....

 

[Bambistew]

"What kind of lazy ass rancher were you anyway, hiring a sheep shearer? And I'll bet he was illegal too!

BHR... You're starting to show your transplant "roots"...

All the shearers that we ever had were more "Montanan" than you could ever dream of being...