Conservation Groups Sue to Protect Lobos and Other Species In the midst of New Mexico’s Wolf Awareness Week, Forest Guardians and Sinapu filed suit in federal district court today in order to overturn all decisions in which the Forest Service allowed livestock grazing on the Gila National Forest in New Mexico without public participation or consideration of impacts to endangered species. The Gila, a rich, biodiverse area measuring 3.3 million acres, supports a host of wildlife and protected species, and is ground zero for the Mexican gray wolf. In their lawsuit, the groups say that by overlooking conflicts between wolf recovery and livestock ranching on public lands, the Forest Service has not only broken federal law, but continues to contribute to the lobo’s demise. Over the past thirteen months, the Forest Service has used categorical exclusions (”CEs”) to authorize grazing on more than a quarter million acres of the Gila National Forest until at least 2016- defacto classifying a vital portion of the Mexican wolf recovery area as “un-extraordinary.” To add insult to injury, the agency has denied the public’s right to appeal any of these CE decisions. Calling the Forest Service’s actions “irresponsible and undemocratic,” Melissa Hailey, Forest Guardians’ Grazing Reform Program Director and lead attorney on the case, says the groups aim to stop all grazing on the Gila until the Forest Service complies with federal law, and to have the Gila National Forest declared a no CE zone. The entire Forest falls within the Mexican wolf recovery zone, where the groups say CEs must not be allowed....Go to Wolf Crossing for more on Wolf Awareness Week from a rancher's perspective.