Judge Rebuffs Fossil Creek Grazing

A federal judge has dealt another setback to the Coconino National Forest’s effort to renew a grazing permit on the headwaters of Fossil Creek.  U.S. Circuit Judge Wallace Tashima ruled that the Forest Service had failed to consider how continued cattle grazing will affect the ability of the endangered Chiricahua leopard frog to spread along riparian areas from one stock tank to another.  However, the judge rejected three other assertions by the Center for Biological Diversity, which claimed the Forest Service’s finding that continued cattle grazing would endanger the frog.  The ruling means the Forest Service will have to undertake additional study on how the cattle will affect the frog’s ability to move between 13 stock tanks where they currently have small breeding populations — as well as have a chance to colonize new stock tanks. The frogs can move for miles along riparian areas, but the trampling of cattle make the journey far more hazardous...more

So why do these particular frogs exist?

Ironically, the frogs have been successfully established in stock ponds created by ranchers to provide water for their cattle. Several of the stock ponds are partially fenced, to keep the frogs safe from the cattle that use the unfenced portions of the pond.  The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the frogs as endangered in 2002 and came up with a recovery plan in 2007, which designated critical breeding areas and other riparian corridors linking them. The grazing unit includes 22 stock ponds that can support small populations of the frog. In 2002, the drought dried up all the stock ponds and killed off all but four of the frogs. A captive breeding program in the Phoenix Zoo rescued those survivors. Eventually, the zoo produced enough frogs to reintroduce them to four of the previously occupied stock ponds.  The Fish and Wildlife Service in cooperation with the Forest Service and the Arizona Game and Fish Department then fenced five of the stock ponds and worked to improve the conditions for the frogs.  Since then, the frogs have spread to 13 of the 22 stock ponds in the grazing allotment, although cattle grazing has continued throughout the period. 

And here are the important points where the judge ruled against the CBD.

...the judge rejected the argument that the Forest Service failed to consider how grazing would affect the non-core habitat areas — and therefore the frogs’ chances of full recovery. The court ruled that the Forest Service did “at least consider” the impact on dispersal and non-breeding habitats, which was all it had to do to comply with the law. The judge also rejected the Center’s claim that the plan would not protect wetlands as required by the Coconino National Forest Master Plan. The Center maintained that any riparian area qualified as a “wetland.” The judge decided that the provision in the forest plan only applies to marshes, ponds, streams and other areas that stay wet most of the time. In addition, the judge rejected the Center’s claim that the Forest Service had violated a provision in its own forest plan saying cattle should eat no more than 20 percent of the vegetation in a given area. The Forest Service plan allows the cattle unrestricted access to a 40-foot section of Fossil Creek, where they would likely eat most of the vegetation. The Center maintained the plan should allow only limited access to the creek. But the judge ruled that so long as the cattle didn’t eat more than 20 percent of the vegetation on the entire allotment, the Forest Service was in compliance with the forest plan.

The June 25, 2015 court decision can be viewed here.