Station ignoring decades of science, court opinions

February 20, 2019

Guardians and the Western Watersheds Project have filed another lawsuit challenging the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Sheep Experiment Station. The station has reauthorized domestic sheep grazing in and around the Centennial Mountains of Idaho, despite grazing’s consequences for bighorn sheep, Yellowstone grizzly bears, sage-grouse, and other wildlife species.

Domestic sheep carry a pathogen that is easily transmitted to wild bighorn and decimates bighorn herds. Sheep grazing also likely has consequences for grizzlies: in 2012, a male grizzly was illegally killed on Sheep Experiment Station grazing lands, and its radio collar was found stuffed under a log in a streambed.

“Instead of addressing the problem, the USDA doubled down on business-as-usual and completely failed to provide the necessary protections and environmental analysis that the court expects and the wildlife need,” said Guardians’ Greg Dyson.

Read the press release.

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