Judge strikes down livestock grazing plan in Montana grizzly habitat

(CN) — Conservationists are celebrating after a federal judge on Wednesday ruled the U.S. Forest Service violated federal law when it authorized expanded livestock grazing in grizzly bear habitat outside of Yellowstone National Park in Montana.

“I’m thrilled the court struck down the federal government’s illegal decision to increase livestock grazing in important grizzly bear habitat,” said Andrea Zaccardi, carnivore conservation legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Putting livestock on public lands where grizzlies live is akin to baiting these bears into conflicts.”

U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy, a Bill Clinton appointee, ordered the Forest Service to take another look at its East Paradise plan. That plan authorized expanded commercial livestock grazing leases on six allotments of land in the Custer-Gallatin National Forest’s Absaroka Mountains in south central Montana.

The nine conservation groups that sued the Forest Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Department of the Interior accused the agency of failing to take a “hard look” at the plan’s potential impact on grizzly bears as required by the National Environmental Policy Act and by failing to prepare an environmental impact statement.

The court largely agreed with the conservation groups. For example, the conservation groups argued the environmental assessment failed to assess the plan’s potential effects on grizzly habitat connectivity, and the court noted the agency conceded it didn’t address connectivity in the assessment.

https://www.courthousenews.com/judge-strikes-down-livestock-grazing-plan-in-montana-grizzly-habitat/