It was a busy week on the wildlife front for environmental groups as well as ranchers. We had some favorable news come out of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals regarding the Endangered Species Act (ESA). However, another lawsuit that threatens cattle grazing in Montana specifically, but could have a major impact on all federal grazing lands, came to light. It seems like we are constantly faced with a battle where grazing meets wildlife, especially on public lands.
The 2019 ESA rule revisions have been covered many times by the great editorial staff here at the Western Livestock Journal. For a little background, in 2019, a series of rules were finalized under the Trump administration that cut government regulation and allowed landowners to tailor protections for threatened species. That makes a lot of sense to me. Let the folks on the ground, who see these animals in their habitats daily, determine the best course of action to recover species, not bureaucrats sitting behind desks.
This was seen as a big win for our agriculture community. However, many of the extreme environmental groups did not like the loss of control. Consequently, the Center for Biological Diversity sued the Biden administration, and on July 5, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled to vacate the Trump rules and have the Biden administration rewrite them. This was a major step backward for agriculture. However, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit just reversed the decision, stating, “It is apparent that the district court in its July 5, 2022, order clearly erred in vacating the 2019 rules without ruling on their legal validity.”
Thank you to the American Farm Bureau Federation and Washington Cattlemen’s Association for filing this appeal. This does not mean this issue is over, but at least it sends the message that courts must rule on the law, not on emotion. In my opinion, it seems like we have had too much opinion and social influence pushed on our decision-makers in the government. Regardless, this is good news for the time being.
In other news, the Western Watersheds Project, along with eight other extremist environmentalist groups, filed a lawsuit against the government for a 2021 U.S. Forest Service decision to expand livestock grazing on six allotments just north of Yellowstone National Park in Montana. Basically, they are upset with the government recognizing that cattle grazing has improved this ground, and there is an availability of forage to justify more cattle. So, they are using the tactic of trying to reverse this decision with the environmental groups’ trusty old friend, the ESA. You can learn more about the details of this lawsuit from our good friend, Charles Wallace, who covers the details of this suit in this week’s paper.
The basis of the environmentalists’ claim is that by grazing cattle in the grizzly bear habitat, it will encourage bears to kill cattle, creating more problem bears. The bears who develop a taste for livestock will then be euthanized, and since grizzlies do not have any other threats to their existence, this results in one of the highest percentages of bear fatalities each year.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that an animal that is at the top of the food chain and does not fear man does not have many opportunities for fatalities. Also, speaking from experience of running cattle in grizzly country, no rancher encourages their cattle to be eaten by bears, despite what the lawsuit seems to imply.
Looking at the numbers, the discussion that should be happening around the grizzly bears in Montana is how to remove them from the ESA list. They have recovered. They are a success story. In Montana, they have gone from an estimated 386 bears in the late 1980s to an estimated 1,800-2,000 bears today. It is difficult to get an accurate count because the bears are being pushed further and further out of their ranges due to their numbers. Further proof of the grizzly bear’s recovery is in the number of livestock lost to predators.
Montana has their Livestock Loss Board, which is responsible for tracking losses and determining if losses should be paid out to ranchers. Looking over some of the past year’s numbers, the Livestock Loss Board has paid out about 155 cattle deaths each year, around 90 of which were attributed to grizzly kills. In 2021, that number ballooned to 413 domestic livestock deaths, 217 of which were cattle. A total of 152 of the cattle deaths were attributed to grizzlies. And those are just the kills they were able to confirm—the actual number would be much higher.
Despite the good news from the Court of Appeals on the ESA rules, this burdensome government regulation can still be held over the heads of those in production agriculture. — DEVIN MURNIN
