Friends of Idaho Watersheds Project
Here is a news release which went to 17 Idaho newspapers and media outlets yesterday for your reading. Contact IWP for more information if you would like:
NEWS RELEASE
BLM ORDERS CATTLE REMOVED FOR ONE YEAR IN PAHSIMEROI VALLEY BECAUSE OF RESOURCE DAMAGE TO CREEKS
August 27, 1997
Idaho Watersheds Project, a non-profit membership conservation organization with 800 members, announced today that the Challis Resource Area of the Bureau of Land Management has issued a decision to force the immediate removal of cattle belonging to Whitworth Ranches Inc. from the Dry Creek Allotment in the Upper Pahsimeroi Valley of Custer County.
The decision states “.... that continued livestock grazing use poses an imminent likelihood of significant damage to riparian areas in the Dry Creek Allotment.”
This decision which has been sought by Idaho Watersheds Project for more than one month, because of the continuance of decades of abuse of Long Creek, Short Creek, and Dry Creek in this allotment, is unusual and sets a precedent for other degraded grazing allotments on BLM lands in Idaho because it also closes the allotment to use for the following year (1998) as well as requiring immediate removal of cattle.
Jon Marvel, President of Idaho Watersheds Project stated: “This decision sends a message to public lands ranchers that their privilege to graze on public lands can be revoked when they refuse to manage their livestock to protect public resources in a responsible way. Renee Snyder, the Challis Resource Area Manager of the BLM, deserves our thanks for taking direct and needed action to stop public lands ranchers from abusing our public lands with no accountability.”