Third lawsuit's a charm? New action to protect Sonoran Desert National Monument

 

June 30, 2021

Yesterday, Western Watersheds Project, the Sierra Club, and Advocates for the West filed another lawsuit against the Arizona Bureau of Land Management (Bureau) for failing to protect the unusual native plants, lush cactus forests, diverse wildlife, and cultural resources found within the Sonoran Desert National Monument from the devastating impacts of livestock grazing.

If this sounds familiar, it is. This is the third time we’ve had to sue to get the Bureau to take monument protection seriously. First, we filed in 2008 to force the agency to even consider the effects of livestock grazing. We settled that lawsuit for a date certain for a grazing analysis.

Then we filed suit against the 2012 decision that allowed grazing to continue on some parts of the monument based on a ‘compatibility determination’ that was riddled with problems. We won that lawsuit with the federal court finding that the agency used unsupported methods and failed to explain many of the conclusions in their assessment. The Bureau was ordered back to the drawing board, which resulted in the bad 2020 plan to expand grazing use in the monument.

The Bureau’s 2020 decision was rushed through under the Trump Administration and opens up the entire monument north of Interstate 8 to livestock grazing, despite extensive scientific evidence that livestock damage the resources the monument status is intended to protect.

As Laurie Rule, attorney with Advocates for the West, representing the plaintiff groups in this case, says, “The agency’s ‘science’ went from bad to worse under the 2020 decision, including by relying on improved conditions in areas that had not been grazed for years to justify expanding grazing use.”

It’s unconscionable that the Bureau is so set on grazing some of the most fragile, arid and spectacular lands in the country, despite the risks to the Sonoran desert tortoise, wild bighorn, and unique vegetation. The Bureau also failed to consider damage to cultural and archeological sites caused by livestock grazing the Monument. The monument is the traditional homeland of the O’odham, Yavapai Apache, Cocopah, and Hohokam peoples.

LINK

Note: if you graze livestock in the desert Southwest, especially in a monument or other special designation, you might want to check out those links.