Federal judge shutters Idaho grazing allotment

A federal judge Wednesday ordered a western Idaho rancher to keep his sheep off his family's traditional grazing ground on public land, at least temporarily, to protect wild bighorns. In his 17-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Lynn Winmill wrote that a pact between a Salmon River rancher and the state to keep his domestic herd away from wild bighorns on the Bureau of Land Management allotment fell short of the 2009 Legislature's new law aimed at protecting Idaho's ranching industry and helping bighorns. Winmill ruled in favor of The Wilderness Society, Western Watersheds Project and Hells Canyon Preservation Council, which contended a native bighorn sheep herd near Riggins was at risk of catching deadly diseases if the allotment near Partridge Creek opened on schedule Thursday. "Irreversible damage is possible here," Winmill wrote. "Bighorns could become infected and roam far up-river in the Salmon River drainage, infecting the other native bighorns along the way causing large-scale losses." His order is in place until at least Nov. 2, when Winmill plans another hearing...read more