Western Watersheds Project won a very important federal court victory yesterday. Chief Judge B. Lynn Winmill of the United States District Court for Idaho ruled that the Sawtooth National Forest violated two major environmental statutes: the National Forest Management Act (NFMA) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in issuing authorizations for sheep grazing on 150,000 acres in central Idaho. The decision affects two of the largest public land sheep ranchers in the United States, John Faulkner and Lava Lake Land and Livestock, and could close large areas on these allotments indefinitely to sheep grazing.

The decision will also affect Forest Service authorization of grazing for livestock across several states and could result in the closing of large areas of Forest Service lands currently grazed by livestock when they are determined to be incapable of supporting livestock use.

As livestock grazing on western public lands continues its long-term decline, court decisions like this one will only accelerate the impact of economic forces that are slowly freeing public lands of the scourge of sheep and cattle.