2/29/00
This news release went out to the Idaho and Oregon Press today.
COURT IMPOSES INJUNCTION ON OWYHEE GRAZING
Hailey, February 29, 2000
A federal judge has granted conservationists their latest victory over grazing abuses in
the Owyhee Canyonlands, issuing an injunction today which sharply limits grazing practices
to protect streams and wildlife until BLM completes thorough environmental studies of
grazing impacts.
The injunction was issued by U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill, in a suit brought by
Idaho Watersheds Project and Committee for Idaho's High Desert over grazing on the 1.8
million acre Owyhee Resource Area. The court last found found that BLM violated
federal law in 1997, when it issued 68 permits for grazing on the resource
area.
The injunction orders BLM to undertake detailed environmental studies of grazing on all
"high priority" allotments on the resource area by 2003, a significantly faster
time frame than BLM had planned. "The Court is confident that the BLM will
obtain the funding necessary to meet an expedited schedule," the order stated.
Until the allotment reviews are completed, grazing will be required to meet several
"interim measures" designed to protect water quality and streamside areas from
livestock trampling and other impacts. These interim measures impose environmental
protections that livestock ranchers have never had to meet before in the Owyhee country.
The court rejected ranchers' arguments that the interim conditions were
"We are pleased that the court has agreed that more needs to be done to protect the
Owyhee country from grazing mismanagement," said Laird Lucas, an attorney with the
LAW Fund who represents the environmental groups. "This is a key step toward
reversing the decades of abuse which grazing has
caused to the streams, fish and wildlife of the Owyhee Canyonlands."