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Conservationists File Suit Challenging Livestock Grazing On National Monument

Conservationists File Suit Challenging Livestock Grazing On National Monument

For immediate release – November 23, 2009
Contact: Jon Marvel (208) 788-2290
Glenn Monahan (406) 691-1135
Preservation of Status Quo Ignores Presidential Proclamation

MISSOULA, MONTANA – Western Watersheds Project and two of its members, outfitters Glenn Monahan and Nancy Schultz, have filed a federal lawsuit in Missoula District Court against the Bureau of Land Management challenging recent decisions over how the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument should be managed.

Their primary complaint concerns the continuation of intensive cattle grazing along the banks of the river, which has significantly altered the natural plant communities and the vast array of fish and wildlife that depend on that riparian vegetation. According to Jon Marvel, Executive Director for WWP, “Nobody who navigates this spectacularly wild and scenic river should be forced to clear cow dung in order to pitch a tent.” Monahan and Schultz are retired schoolteachers who have been leading expeditions down the river since before President Clinton declared it a National Monument in 2001.

The Upper Missouri River Breaks is the premier section of the Lewis and Clark Trail, owing to its “spectacular array of biological, geological, and historical objects of interest”, according to the presidential proclamation. The Monument encompasses almost 600 square miles of wildlife habitat, home to trophy elk populations and the first Bighorn sheep herds spotted by Lewis and Clark.

According to the proclamation, it “remains remote and nearly as undeveloped” as when the Corps of Discovery first laid eyes on it. Except, that is, for the fact that the bison and grizzlies Lewis & Clark marveled at along the banks have been displaced by approximately 38,000 cow/calf pairs that are encouraged to wade in the water during the hottest months of the year — much to the chagrin of the many tourists who venture down the river.

According to Monahan, “The people I take down this river are constantly amazed by the beauty of the area, and at the same time disgusted by the cow pies, trampled and denuded river banks, and puddles of cow urine they have to hop over just to set up a camp.” Of the nearly 6,000 public comments received by the BLM in formulating the resource management plan for the Monument, over a third were concerned with cattle grazing, and most of those suggested reducing or eliminating grazing throughout the Monument. Instead, BLM eliminated grazing impacts as a “significant issue” from its analysis, and it was that decision more than any that prompted the lawsuit.

One of the primary “objects” of the Monument the BLM is required to give priority to be the unique cottonwood gallery forest ecosystems that have historically supported the fisheries and wildlife of the Breaks area. However, according to scientific studies funded by BLM itself, these ecosystems are clearly imperiled.

In 1989, University of Montana scientists concluded that current grazing management along the Missouri threatens the cottonwood forests because cattle browse intensively on cottonwood seedlings and saplings, as well as the shrubs and native forbs that would otherwise form an understory for cottonwood regeneration. In 2004, a similar study by Montana Natural Heritage Program found that the diversity of plant species so critical to wildlife in the Monument has been almost completely eliminated by cows. Nearly half of Montana’s 235 bird species nest only in riparian zones, and there has been a drastic decline in their populations over the last half-century (e.g., Great Blue Heron population down 81%).

BLM itself acknowledged that “[t] he lack of replacement trees means floaters and campers in the near future will have to rely on artificial shelter for shade.” But according to Monahan, all the studies he and Schultz have catalogued make it clear that this complete denuding of the Monument is not necessary.

“BLM needs to step up to the plate, take the experts’ recommendations to heart, and craft a plan for restoring the natural plant communities along the banks of the Upper Missouri,” Monahan said. “It seems the only reason they are unwilling to take a hard look at this issue is that it would require them to get cows out of the water and away from the banks,” Monahan asserts.

It is unfortunate – but necessary, that this issue is going to court, said Monahan. “The Upper Missouri’s riparian areas are an ecosystem that’s on the verge of complete collapse as a result of highly destructive grazing practices. We’ve been trying to work cooperatively with BLM for over eight years to achieve meaningful grazing reform. Despite our efforts, and the recommendations of leading riparian scientists, BLM continues to manage these special public lands not as a national monument, but as a national feedlot.”

Western Watersheds Project recently opened an office in Montana in response to the concerns of members like Monahan and Schultz, and has been aggressive in pursuing litigation throughout the West to address public landscapes severely impacted by private livestock management.

“If BLM doesn’t think cattle grazing is a significant environmental issue in the Monument,” Marvel says, “perhaps Congress should consider turning management authority over to U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, who are doing a much better job in the CM Russell Wildlife Refuge immediately downstream from the Monument.”

Bob Skinner, woody plant specialist at the CMR, has in the past noted that the loss of the kind of “sentinel” plant species associated with Cottonwood forests along the Missouri River “has certainly had dramatic impoverishing effects on wildlife,” including small mammals, birds, large ungulates and sage grouse.

According to Marvel, cattle grazing has been reduced by over 80% in the CMR in recent decades out of concern for fish and wildlife. “Far from being a good neighbor,” Marvel said, “BLM is acting like a national slumlord in its management of this natural treasure.”

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