BLM says 18 of 25 renewed Owyhee grazing permits require cuts

Eighteen of 25 renewed grazing permits unveiled Friday include reductions in the number of cattle and sheep Owyhee County ranchers will be able to graze on public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management. The agency issued a final environmental impact statement for renewing 25 livestock grazing permits on allotments in the Jump Creek, Succor Creek and Cow Creek watersheds in western Owyhee County. It will publish proposed decisions Nov. 8. The EIS includes analysis of how the alternatives meet environmental laws and BLM’s Idaho standards for rangeland health, a series of guidelines to ensure that the desert ecosystem is functioning. The standards help agency scientists determine that the native grasses and shrubs are healthy, that streamside areas and watersheds are thriving and that habitat for sage grouse and other endangered species is protected. The ranchers' own proposals were picked as the preferred alternative in six of the allotments. Seasonal grazing reductions and a rest and deferment program were preferred for seven of the allotments, and a program of postponement and delay of grazing was preferred in 11 of the allotments. Two allotments were merged. The 25 allotments are part of 68 grazing permit renewals the BLM was ordered to conduct by U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill after a lawsuit by Western Watersheds Project, an environmental group that opposes grazing. The bureau has until the end of 2013 to renew the remaining permits...more