Grazing debate renewed after peppergrass listing

Barring any surprise developments, a desert flower found in parts of southwest Idaho - including the Juniper Butte area of Owyhee County - will receive new federal protections in just less than 60 days. And as is often the case with troubled species in southern Idaho's rangelands, officials are debating the role livestock grazing should play in its protection. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officially published its decision to list the slickspot peppergrass as threatened on Thursday, starting the 60-day clock - a timeframe extended to allow the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to finish conferring with Fish and Wildlife about grazing permits set to be issued in the plant's range. The plant was originally proposed to be listed in 2003. But Fish and Wildlife changed its mind in 2005 after a challenge from the U.S. Air Force. But the Hailey-based environmental group Western Watersheds Project sued successfully to force the federal agency to reconsider. Officials announced last week that the plant deserves "threatened" status, primarily because of growing threats from wildfires and invasive species such as cheatgrass. But Western Watersheds' involvement - the group's top priority has always been fighting grazing - led critics of the listing to characterize the listing as less about the plant and more about limiting what ranchers can do...read more