Judge says ‘no’ to motorized vehicles for juniper removal in wilderness study area

A federal judge has ruled that it’s unlawful to use motorized vehicles to remove juniper from nearly 80,000 acres in the vicinity of Oregon’s Steens Mountain. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is cutting juniper from roughly 336,000 acres in the Steens Mountain Cooperative Management Area because the trees are crowding out native vegetation. Juniper removal is important to ranchers because it’s expected to prevent further population declines of the sage grouse, a candidate for Endangered Species Act protection. If the bird is listed as threatened or endangered, ranchers fear further restrictions on cattle grazing in its habitat. U.S. District Judge Garr King has now ruled that using motorized vehicles within “wilderness study areas” is prohibited by a federal law that governs management of the Steens Mountain area. The BLM argued that there’s an exception to the vehicle ban for “administrative purposes” — including juniper removal — but King sided with the Oregon Natural Desert Association, which filed a lawsuit against the practice. The judge said that BLM was interpreting the “administrative purposes” language too broadly. “The BLM’s interpretation places no limit on what falls in the category of ‘administrative,’” he said. “BLM — as the agency charged with implementing Congress’ enactments — could call any activity ‘administrative’ since its job is to ‘administer’ the laws.” Supporters of juniper removal worry that the ruling will complicate activities within the 79,600 acres designated as “wilderness study areas” inside the project’s boundaries...more