Advocates for the West has won another court victory protecting public lands in the Pahsimeroi Valley.
Four grazing allotments on your public land in central Idaho's stunning Pahsimeroi Valley were under scrutiny in this case. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) authorized grazing permits on Trail, Grouse, Meadow and Rock Creek allotments without conducting the thorough study of the impacts required by law. Advocates for the West brought this case on behalf of Western Watersheds Project.
The Honorable Judge Lodge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho agreed with us on all three of our claims: that BLM violated the law by not analyzing the impacts to endangered bull trout, by refusing to consider a no- or low- grazing alternative when evaluating the impacts, and by failing to study the cumulative impacts of grazing in the area.
As the Court put it: "NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) requires BLM decision makers to take a "hard look" at the environmental impacts of their decisions; it does not allow BLM to rubber stamp applications in order to maintain the status quo. . . . When, as here, BLM disregards the law, it disregards the public interest and undermines its own credibility."
The Court ordered BLM to develop a new Environmental Assessment (EA) and new grazing decisions within one year or grazing cannot continue.
"This decision is important because it requires BLM to take another look at the negative impacts grazing causes to bull trout and sage-grouse in this beautiful area. The effects of grazing need to be thoroughly analyzed, without shortcuts," said Kristin Ruether, Advocates for the West's attorney on the case.
Thank you to WWP's Katie Fite and Larry Zuckerman for their expertise and dedication on this case.
