Grazing

Introduction

The Grazing Toolbox is designed to assist in managing permitted grazing operations within designated wilderness areas. It is not intended to provide guidance on using grazing as a management tool (e.g., for controlling non-native invasive plants), although some of the included materials may prove helpful in such contexts. Similarly, this toolbox does not address the grazing of recreational stock or the management of wild horses and burros. However, it does include a document on monitoring grazing impacts from recreational stock, which may be useful for analyzing similar impacts caused by non-recreational livestock.

Materials originally developed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Forest Service (FS) are generally interchangeable between these agencies. Since few wilderness areas managed by the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) or the National Park Service (NPS) have traditional permitted grazing operations, some content in this toolbox may not apply to wilderness stewards in those agencies. Regardless of your agency, always consult its specific policies and the enabling legislation of your wilderness area to ensure compliance.

Laws

Congressional Guidelines

Case Law

Forest Guardians v. APHIS, USFS, 2000 WL 34510092 Forest Guardians v. Animal & Plant Health Inspection Serv., 309 F.3d 1141, (9th Cir. 2002)

Topic: Killing predators to protect livestock (use)

Background: In 1984, Congress designated an area of the Coronado National Forest in Arizona as the Santa Teresa Wilderness. See Arizona Wilderness Act of 1984, Pub.L. No. 98-406, § 101(a)(23), 98 Stat. 1485. In May 1997, the Regional Forester delegated authority to APHIS to perform predator control in wilderness areas, including the Santa Teresa Wilderness, to "prevent serious losses of domestic livestock." The Regional Forester defined "serious loss" as "a determination made by APHIS or State Game and Fish after investigations, historical evidence and patterns of loss show the habitual nature of kills." APHIS killed six mountain lions between July 18, 1997, and March 22, 1999, at the request of a rancher who grazed cattle within the Santa Teresa Wilderness. A coalition of conservation organizations and one individual ("Forest Guardians") sought to enjoin this practice on the ground that it violates the Wilderness Act. Forest Guardians also claimed that APHIS and the Forest Service failed to conduct adequate environmental studies - as required by the National Environmental Policy Act ("NEPA") - before deciding to kill the mountain lions.

Holding: The Circuit Court affirmed the District Court's decision, which ruled that predator control is allowed in wilderness where necessary to support pre-existing grazing operations. The Forest Service did not need a NEPA document that solely addressed predator control in the Santa Teresa Wilderness, but could rely on a statewide analysis that specifically addressed predator control in multiple Wilderness areas.

Key Language: "The district court did not err in concluding that the Forest Service may authorize APHIS to perform lethal predator control of mountain lions in the Santa Teresa Wilderness in order to protect private livestock. Nor did it err by allowing predator control in areas where it had not been used in the past. The Wilderness Act of 1964 and the Arizona Wilderness Act of 1984 do not expressly prohibit predator control in wilderness areas. 16 U.S.C. §§ 1131-1136; Arizona Wilderness Act § 101(a)(23), (f)(1); H.R.Rep. No. 96-617, at 10-13 (1979). They do, however, allow pre-existing grazing operations to continue in areas later designated as wilderness. See Arizona Wilderness Act § 101(f)(1). We agree with the Forest Service that 'private livestock grazing implicitly includes operations to support that grazing, such as lethal control of predators.'" "We therefore defer to the Forest Service's conclusion that the Act authorizes predator control as one of the "flexible opportunities to manage grazing in a creative and realistic site specific fashion."