Friends of Idaho Watersheds Project
Here is the text of the news release IWP sent out today (All
Hallow's
Eve) ! to media outlets in Idaho and Eastern Oregon. We'll see if the
hornets have gone into hibernation yet !
NEWS RELEASE
October 31, 1997
CONSERVATION GROUPS SUE BLM TO HALT GRAZING DAMAGE ON 1.8 MILLION
ACRES IN OWYHEE COUNTY, IDAHO
Today, Idaho Watersheds Project and the Committee for Idaho's High
Desert filed a lawsuit in federal District Court in Boise against the
Bureau of Land Management to halt ecological damage from grazing abuses
on 1.8 million acres of public land in Owyhee County.
In the lawsuit, the groups assert that the BLM has amassed
voluminous
data showing that overgrazing and livestock mismanagement in the Owyhee
Resource Area has polluted rivers and streams, degraded crucial
streamside habitat, and led to significant declines in populations of
native trout, sage grouse, and other species. The lawsuit seeks to
force BLM to comply with the Clean Water Act, the Federal Land Policy
Management Act and other federal laws which require that grazing
management must be altered promptly whenever grazing abuse occurs, and
that public lands must support a wide
variety of uses beyond grazing.
"The BLM has documented in detail that overgrazing continues in
the
Owyhee Resource Area, yet it refuses to take the steps necessary to
bring livestock abuse under control. This lawsuit may well result in
the removal of livestock from almost 2 million acres, because the BLM
and their rancher wards have not done what they promised," said Jon
Marvel, President of Idaho Watersheds Project.
"Federal law is very clear," said Laird Lucas, a Boise
attorney with
the Land and Water Fund, who represents the groups. "BLM must change
grazing practices whenever excessive grazing harms the land. Here,
BLM’s own studies show that nearly every river and stream in the Owyhee
area is fouled by livestock, and that overgrazing has seriously
degraded wildlife habitat. This suit is intended to force BLM to live
up to the law and make sure that livestock grazing does not degrade our
public resources."
The lawsuit asks the federal court to set a strict timetable
for BLM
to revise grazing permits beginning in 1998 and to halt grazing
completely after March 1998 until BLM has performed the necessary
environmental studies to determine how grazing levels should be changed.
Contacts:
IWP: (208) 788-2290
Laird Lucas, LAW Fund: (208) 342-7024