Western Watersheds Project Appeals Forest Service Grazing Decision on the Sawtooth National Recreation Area. Dec. 3, 2003.
 

Western Watersheds Project and the Boulder-White Clouds Council on Monday (11/24/03) filed an appeal of a U.S. Forest Service decision that supports continued grazing on the Sawtooth National Recreation Area in the East Fork of the Salmon River Valley. The Appeal affects the Upper and Lower East Fork cattle allotments.

In March, the Forest Service released a draft environmental impact statement that proposed a nearly 50 percent reduction of livestock grazing on the Upper and Lower East Fork Cattle grazing allotments on the eastern slope of the White Cloud Mountains.

However, the Forest Service's final decision, issued Sept. 30 by Sawtooth National Recreation Area Ranger Debora Cooper shortly before her departure for Alaska, will allow livestock grazing to resume at higher levels than those of the past three years once certain resource conditions are met.
 

The decision also clears the way for 15 miles of fencing at the 9000-foot level, at a cost to taxpayers of at least $150,000, in order to keep cattle out of sensitive high elevation areas.
 

"As anyone can tell from reading the record of decision, a lot of political pressure has been brought to bear on Area Ranger Deb Cooper, and it has resulted in this unfortunate decision," said Jon Marvel, executive director of WWP.

About 23,500 acres specified for permanent closure in the draft environmental impact statement would only be temporarily closed.

The conservation groups also contend that the decision fails to assess the issue of "substantial impairment" of wolves by livestock on eight other allotments within the SNRA.

In April Federal District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill renewed an injunction that fully protects wolves on public and private lands in the SNRA even if predations of livestock by wolves occur in the area.

Winmill ruled that the Forest Service violated the Organic Act that created the SNRA by failing to consider whether livestock grazing is substantially impairing wolf populations. He added that the Organic Act does not include grazing as a "historic" or "pastoral" value.

Despite the presence of wolves in the area, some 4,470 sheep and 2,500 cattle are allowed to graze on 28 Forest Service allotments in the SNRA.

WWP and the Boulder-White Clouds Council also maintain that the Forest Service's decision fails to give priority under the Organic Act to the remnant Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep on the Lower East Fork Allotment.

The White Cloud Bighorn Sheep herd may have as few as 37 individual members, a figure that reflects an 80 percent decline in population in the past 10 years, according to the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.
 

Marvel noted that the majority of the public's input on the draft environmental study was essentially ignored. Of 219 written comments, 130 supported the termination of livestock grazing through a four year phase-out, and 65 recommended curtailed grazing. Only 17 supported ranching.
 

The appeal will be reviewed by Intermountain Region Forester Jack Troyer. If Troyer upholds the decision, WWP and the Boulder-White Clouds Council anticipate further litigation.