Groups sue to
stop Sawtooth grazing
Court asked to
close 8 allotments
to protect wolves
"The
U.S. Forest Service’s refusal to alter its management strategies for
livestock in the SNRA in the wake of the court’s ruling leaves us no
alternative."
- JON
MARVEL, Western
Watersheds Project executive director
By GREG
STAHL
Express Staff Writer
A
coalition of Idaho environmental groups is asking a U.S. District Court
to close eight grazing allotments in the Sawtooth National Recreation
Area to protect gray wolves.
Jon
Marvel, executive director of the Western Watersheds Project based in
Hailey, said the requested closure would encompass more than 100,000
acres. It could displace between 2,000 and 4,000 sheep and up to 200
cattle. The motion seeks to close the allotments at least through the
current grazing season.
The
environmental groups say all eight allotments in the motion are problem
areas where wolves have been in conflict with cattle in previous grazing
seasons.
The
action of the Western Watersheds Project and the Idaho Conservation
League follows a ruling by U.S. District Judge Lynn Winmill, prohibiting
federal wildlife managers from automatically moving or killing wolves
that tangle with livestock.
A 1972
law created the scenic recreation area and gives wolves precedence over
grazing. Winmill said those rules must be balanced with rules
established in the 1990s, which directed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service to move and eventually kill wolves that prey on livestock.
Stan
Boyd, executive director of the Idaho Woolgrowers Association, said the
motion shows that environmental groups simply want to remove livestock
from public lands.
"These
folks are using wolf recovery as a tool to pursue other agendas,"
Boyd said.
But the
point is not to displace cattle or ranchers, pointed out Idaho
Conservation League Central Idaho Director Linn Kincannon, of Ketchum.
"The
Forest Service has no plans to respond to the lawsuit by moving
livestock or sheep out of the way," she said. "The injunction,
we hope, will force them to move livestock out of the way of wolves.
"We’re
just saying, ‘You’ve got to do something.’"
Local
Forest Service officials have been tight-lipped about the lawsuits. Two
weeks ago, they referred inquiries to the Intermountain Region
headquarters office in Ogden, Utah. This week, inquiries were forwarded
to the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.
"We’re
certainly taking this very seriously," said Department of Justice
Spokesperson Dana Perino. "We recognize that there will be an
impact on Idaho, and we will be working diligently with out client
agency, the Forest Service."
Perino
declined to comment on the litigation or what it means for Idahoan and
Western ranchers. She also declined to comment on whether the Department
of Justice plans to appeal Winmill’s decision.
The Idaho
Conservation League and the Western Watersheds Project sued the Forest
Service in 2001, when two wolves in the Whitehawk Pack were killed for
attacking sheep in the Sawtooth Valley that June.
Since
then, federal wolf managers have killed the entire pack, generating
widespread opposition from around the world.
In the
past three years, 27 wolves have been killed or moved out of the White
Cloud Mountains and the East Fork of the Salmon River valley in or
adjacent to the recreation area.
"The
U.S. Forest Service’s refusal to alter its management strategies for
livestock in the SNRA in the wake of the court’s ruling leaves us no
alternative," Marvel said in a prepared statement. "Our action
is the only way to stop the killing of wolves in the SNRA."