Rancher told to remove cattle from Carrizo Plain preserve

Cattle will be temporarily removed from the Carrizo Plain Ecological Reserve as a result of a court settlement announced Tuesday. Under the deal signed in San Francisco Superior Court, the 3,600 cattle that are allowed to graze on the ranch each year must be removed within six months. The cattle must stay off the ranch until the state Department of Fish and Game completes a review of the environmental impacts of grazing on the 30,000-acre wildlife refuge. The settlement comes from a February 2010 lawsuit filed by two environmental groups, Los Padres Forest Watch and the Santa Lucia Chapter of the Sierra Club. The suit said the reserve was being overgrazed and that cattle were being allowed to trample environmentally sensitive areas. The area has long been used for grazing, and since 2006, Neil Dow of Oregon has been grazing his cattle there through a lease issued by Fish and Game...more