In a victory for conservation groups and a loss for ranchers, a federal judge recently ruled to halt livestock grazing on portions of the Sonoran Desert National Monument in Arizona.
Western Watersheds Project and the Sierra Club-Grand Canyon Chapter lauded the decision, claiming in an email, “Despite numerous scientific studies and evidence that it isn’t, the Bureau has continued to defend its tradition of allowing hundreds of cattle to trample soils, spread invasive weeds, and degrade the fragile desert ecosystem.”
In early August, in the District Court for the District of Arizona, Judge Susan R. Bolton ruled that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) failed to take a “hard look” when creating its management plan and grazing standards for the national monument.
The matter was remanded back to the BLM, where they will evaluate the management plan for a third time and determine if grazing can be compatible with conservation efforts in the monument.
Background
Former President Bill Clinton designated the national monument area in 2011, restricting livestock grazing on the roughly 586,000 acres. Grazing permits on federal lands within the monument and south of Interstate 8 were not to be renewed, while permits north of Interstate 8 could be continued only after the BLM determined grazing was compatible with the monument’s conservation interests.
The BLM released its management plan in 2012, which broke down the northern monument area into six allotments. BLM found that livestock grazing could be compatible with the goals of the monument across 157,000 acres, but restricted grazing on the remaining95,300 acres.
Conservation groups brought suit in 2013 against the plan, arguing the plan was arbitrary and capricious under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). A district judge remanded the 2012 plan back to BLM and ordered them to complete a new grazing compatibility determination by 2020.
BLM finished the new land health evaluation in September of 2020, which concluded that grazing up to 4,232 animal unit months (AUMs) could be sustained within the northern area of the monument. The agency proposed installing fencing around sensitive areas, moving water sources to less sensitive areas and authorizing fewer AUMs on the monument to mitigate grazing impacts.
Following the release of the new plan, the conservation groups filed suit again, this time in June of 2021. The groups claimed the amended plan violated the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 and National Landscape Conservation System Act, National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, and NEPA.
The suit stated that BLM failed to “consider an adequate range of alternative actions in the (environmental assessment)” and failed to “take a ‘hard look’ at the environmental effects of ‘allowing grazing across all lands on the Monument north of Highway8.’”
Earlier this year, the groups and BLM both moved for summary judgement, and filed responses to each other’s motions later in the summer.— Anna Miller, WLJ managing editor
