Advocates for the West wins for Great Basin sage-grouse!

On Monday, February 6, 2012, the federal court in Idaho issued a strong rebuke of the BLM in Advocates for the Wests Great Basin sage-grouse case, and required increased protections for Greater sage-grouse across a vast swath of southern Idaho.  In its 55-page order, the court found that BLM violated our principle environmental laws and policies - including the National Environmental Policy Act, the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, and the Fundamentals of Rangeland Health, as well as the governing land use plans - in approving status quo grazing in southwestern Idaho.

More specifically, the court first held that BLM violated NEPA by ignoring the cumulative impacts of its grazing decisions on populations and habitat for the Greater sage-grouse, an endemic bird whose populations are crashing and habitat is being destroyed.  The court next found that BLM's proposed measures to protect sage-grouse - including increased grazing; more fences, pipelines and other wildland developments; and eliminating most measurable standards governing grazing - would harm sage-grouse populations in the Owyhee and Bruneau Field Offices, in violation of the Fundamentals.

Most importantly, perhaps, the court also held that BLM's governing land use plans require the agency to prioritize sage-grouse habitat above livestock grazing, and the court held that if grazing and sage-grouse are in conflict, "it is grazing that must yield."

This case will now turn to remedies, where Advocates for the West will seek to apply these legal principles to ensure that Greater sage-grouse populations and habitat are protected as required under our environmental laws.  Advocates for the West would like to thank its conservation partner and client Western Watersheds Project, and specifically WWP's Biodiversity Director Katie Fite and NEPA Coordinator Ken Cole for their tireless efforts on this case.

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Great Basin sage-grouse decision 2/6/12