Environmental group threatens suit over alleged illegal grazing in Gila NF

An environmental group has threatened to sue the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, saying the agencies are allowing livestock grazing in restricted areas along the Gila River watershed in southwestern New Mexico and southeastern Arizona. The Center for Biological Diversity sent its notification letter to Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, as well as national and state representatives of the Forest Service and Fish and Wildlife, on Wednesday. The letter alleges that cattle are in the Gila National Forest in riparian areas excluded from grazing by the Endangered Species Act and a 1998 legal settlement between the center and the Forest Service. “The Forest Service has completely abdicated its legal responsibility to protect these fragile waterways and the wildlife around them,” Brian Segee, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. “We found cows, trampled streambanks and water polluted with feces on nearly every mile of stream we surveyed. The Forest Service is failing to protect endangered animals that rely on these rivers and streams for their survival. We’re hopeful a court will force it to take immediate action.” The Center for Biological Diversity said it will sue in federal court if the Forest Service and Fish and Wildlife do not remove the cattle in 60 days...MORE

Embedded below is the notice filed by the CBD, or you can view it online here