Environmentalists urge judge not to dismiss grazing lawsuit

PORTLAND — Environmentalists are urging a federal judge not to throw out a lawsuit they filed 15 years ago alleging that grazing harms the threatened bull trout in Oregon’s Malheur National Forest. Last year, a federal magistrate judge found the Oregon Natural Desert Association and Center for Biological Diversity had failed to prove that livestock grazing along two rivers in the forest is to blame for the protected species’ decline. The plaintiffs have objected to his recommended dismissal of their complaint, which was originally filed more than 15 years ago. During oral arguments held April 5 in Portland, the environmental groups asked U.S. District Judge Michael Mosman to instead rule that grazing authorizations along the Malheur and North Fork Malheur rivers violated federal laws. Fewer than 50 bull trout now inhabit each of the waterways, which together should support about 2,000 of the fish, said Mac Lacy, attorney for the plaintiffs. The U.S. Forest Service has authorized livestock grazing on seven allotments covering tens of thousands of acres without analyzing the site-specific effects as required by law, Lacy said. In recommending the lawsuit’s dismissal, the magistrate judge incorrectly found that attainment of “riparian management objectives” for the fish can be measured at the “watershed or landscape scale,” the plaintiffs claimed...MORE