A federal judge ruled Wednesday that ranchers won't be able to turn out domestic sheep on disputed grazing ground in western Idaho's Payette National Forest. U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill's preliminary injunction, delivered swiftly in his Boise courtroom, is a victory for environmentalists aiming to protect bighorn sheep from diseases transmitted by their domestic cousins. At issue was the U.S. Forest Service's decision to keep open three grazing allotments totaling 7,700 acres that had originally been due to be shuttered in 2012. In March, the Forest Service cited 2011 congressional legislation by Idaho U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson aiming to keep the allotments open for at least another year. But environmentalists including The Wilderness Society and Western Watersheds Project successfully argued the Forest Service had misinterpreted Simpson's measure, a rider in the agency's budget, to the peril of wild sheep. "The Forest Service was cherry picking its interpretation of the rider language," said Jon Marvel, director of Western Watersheds Project, in a statement lauding Winmill's decision...
more
1 comment:
Bighorns in areas that have been free of domestic sheep for decades still have lung worm. This is just another ploy by the nitwitts to keep livestock off of the national forest. Too bad there are nitwitt judges who promote that science.
Post a Comment