Ranchy
Well-known member
Just in from the President of the Gila Cattle Growers Association:
http://www.stpns.net/view_article.html?articleId=65044301059806419
Environmentalists Want Cattle Off Gila
By John Larson
for Mountain Mail
SOCORRO, New Mexico (STPNS) --
SANTA FE – A lawsuit has been filed in U.S. Federal Court in Santa Fe to reverse all grazing allotment decisions by the Forest Service in Catron County .
The suits are being brought by Forest Guardians in Santa Fe , and Sinapu, a carnivore protection group in Boulder , Colo. The suit challenges the Forest Service to remove cattle until environmental assessments can be done on all grazing allotment.
Catron County Manager Bill Aymar said the lawsuit will fail.
"It gets more insane by the moment," Aymar said. "This is just the latest in a series of spurious lawsuits. The latest iteration to try to get the people out of the county."
Aymar said the people who run the organizations are far removed from the realities of the area.
"You can't have a pit bull in Santa Fe , but you can own a wolf," Aymar said. "But that wolf has to live in Catron County ."
Melissa Hailey, Forest Guardians grazing reform program director, said the U.S. Forest Service has not followed its own rules in making grazing allotment decisions.
"Among the poor management practices that have hindered success of the Mexican Wolf Recovery is the Forest Service's practice of issuing 10-year term grazing permits without environmental analysis or public input," Hailey said. "They have been relying on a federal loophole, a categorical exclusion, to issue grazing permits to avoid an examination of impacts to species."
Hailey said the loophole, created in 2005, allows the Forest Service to categorically exclude from environmental studies certain grazing management decisions in areas where extraordinary circumstances – such as endangered and threatened species or critical habitat – are not a factor.
"For the Gila they issued 13 categorical exclusions covering 250,000 acres," Hailey said. "The CE is inappropriate because of the presence of threatened or endangered species, and that area is the best area for the wolf."
"We aim to hold the Forest Service accountable to the public, most of which supports wolf protection," Hailey said.
"The law is clear that the Forest Service cannot issue CEs in areas where grazing can harm lobos and other protected species, and the entire Gila is therefore off limits to this closed door approach to public lands management."
She said the two groups aim to stop all grazing on the Gila until the Forest Service complies with federal law, and to have the Gila National Forest declared a no-categorical-exclusion zone.
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http://www.stpns.net/view_article.html?articleId=65044301059806419
Environmentalists Want Cattle Off Gila
By John Larson
for Mountain Mail
SOCORRO, New Mexico (STPNS) --
SANTA FE – A lawsuit has been filed in U.S. Federal Court in Santa Fe to reverse all grazing allotment decisions by the Forest Service in Catron County .
The suits are being brought by Forest Guardians in Santa Fe , and Sinapu, a carnivore protection group in Boulder , Colo. The suit challenges the Forest Service to remove cattle until environmental assessments can be done on all grazing allotment.
Catron County Manager Bill Aymar said the lawsuit will fail.
"It gets more insane by the moment," Aymar said. "This is just the latest in a series of spurious lawsuits. The latest iteration to try to get the people out of the county."
Aymar said the people who run the organizations are far removed from the realities of the area.
"You can't have a pit bull in Santa Fe , but you can own a wolf," Aymar said. "But that wolf has to live in Catron County ."
Melissa Hailey, Forest Guardians grazing reform program director, said the U.S. Forest Service has not followed its own rules in making grazing allotment decisions.
"Among the poor management practices that have hindered success of the Mexican Wolf Recovery is the Forest Service's practice of issuing 10-year term grazing permits without environmental analysis or public input," Hailey said. "They have been relying on a federal loophole, a categorical exclusion, to issue grazing permits to avoid an examination of impacts to species."
Hailey said the loophole, created in 2005, allows the Forest Service to categorically exclude from environmental studies certain grazing management decisions in areas where extraordinary circumstances – such as endangered and threatened species or critical habitat – are not a factor.
"For the Gila they issued 13 categorical exclusions covering 250,000 acres," Hailey said. "The CE is inappropriate because of the presence of threatened or endangered species, and that area is the best area for the wolf."
"We aim to hold the Forest Service accountable to the public, most of which supports wolf protection," Hailey said.
"The law is clear that the Forest Service cannot issue CEs in areas where grazing can harm lobos and other protected species, and the entire Gila is therefore off limits to this closed door approach to public lands management."
She said the two groups aim to stop all grazing on the Gila until the Forest Service complies with federal law, and to have the Gila National Forest declared a no-categorical-exclusion zone.
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