Mountain States Legal Foundation (MSLF) was granted the motion to intervene on behalf of J. Paul Brown and the Colorado Farm Bureau (CFB) in a lawsuit filed by environmentalists seeking to protect bighorn sheep in Colorado.
In what MSLF calls, “a long string of attacks on livestock producers across the West, using alleged threats to protected species as a pretext,” WildEarth Guardians and Western Watersheds Project (WWP) filed a lawsuit in 2019 concerning the Wishbone allotment near Creede, CO.
The Wishbone allotment is composed of seven pastures near Highway 149 from Coller State Wildlife Area to 6 Mile Flats; the South River area from Marshal Park Campground to Ivy Creek Campground; and the Shallow Creek and Crystal Lake areas.
The lawsuit asserts “The Rio Grande National Forest knew the risk that domestic sheep would cause to bighorn, yet authorized grazing anyway.” The groups state domestic sheep carry a pathogen that causes pneumonia and is transmitted to bighorn sheep through their mutual attraction.
“Evidence shows that proper livestock management can mitigate the very minor risk of disease transmission to bighorn sheep,” said MSLF attorney Brian Gregg.
The Wishbone allotment is adjacent to the Snow Mesa allotment, which the United States Forest Service (USFS) determined was too high of a risk for the bighorn sheep. The groups state, “The new Wishbone allotment does nothing to reduce the risk to bighorns, and the Forest Service’s reasons for reducing the risk rating of the allotment and allowing grazing there were arbitrary.” They also assert that telemetry data was not considered, which shows the bighorn near the Wishbone allotment.
“Not long ago, in Idaho, environmentalists used similar claims to strike a devastating blow against public lands livestock operators in the Northern Rockies,” explained MSLF attorney Brian Gregg. “And they’ve dusted off tactics from the same playbook to go gunning for sheep ranchers in Colorado and the Southern Rockies. Anti-grazing groups are extending their attacks on ranchers. Another court victory for them could start the dominos falling across the Mountain West.”
Current USFS range management uses a three-year pasture rotation system with current permittees authorized to graze one band of sheep (consisting of 1,000 ewes plus their lambs) between July 11 and Sept. 15.
To ensure that domestic and wild sheep remain separated, and to ensure that the range is not overutilized, the best management practice includes “requiring two herders; requiring a sweep of the pasture and trailing route post-move; requiring herders to be with the flock during the day and in camp at night; requiring permittees to count sheep as they come on to the forest after they leave Crystal Basin pasture, and at their final National Forest Service pasture; and requiring permittees to respond to strays within 24 hours of notification.”
The USFS has determined these are the best measures to prevent the spread of pneumonia between domestic sheep and the bighorns.
Intervenors in the case
Brown is a sheep producer who holds a federal grazing permit on the Tank Creek, Virginia Creek, and Enlich Mesa Allotments in the San Juan National Forest. The Brown allotments are located near the Wishbone Allotment, the allotment at issue in this case, in the Rio Grande National Forest.
In the motion to intervene it states, “The Wishbone allotment is central to the domestic sheep production operations of proposed intervenors, Wayne and Jerry Brown, who have grazed on
allotments of public lands for many years.
“According to the Browns, there are very limited (or no) summer pastures available to them outside the Wishbone allotment. Without the allotment, the Browns contend they will lose their summer pasture completely, forcing them to purchase replacement feed at elevated costs which threaten the viability of their businesses.”
This year, Jerry Brown sold his grazing allotments in the Weminuche Wilderness to National Wildlife Federation (NWF) to reduce the risk his sheep pose to native bighorns.
He and the NWF reached an agreement to purchase an 11,000-acre allotment called Endlich Mesa. As a result of the deal, Brown’s bands will reduce from three to two, a reduction of 800 sheep.
“Even though I don’t really like it, in this case, it worked out,” Brown told the Durango Herald. “It seemed to be the best thing for us to do.”
He and his family’s livelihood rely on being able to graze on public land, Brown said to the Durango Herald. He suspects that for many, the core of the issue is a blanket opposition to any grazing on public lands.
Brown was also the past president of Colorado Wool Growers Association, a former legislator in the Colorado General Assembly, and a member of the CFB board.
The other intervenor in the case is the CFB. The organization, founded in 1919, represents nearly 25,000 ranchers, farmers, and other industry professionals in every county in the state.
Both intervenors are represented by MSLF, which filed a response brief to the U.S. District Court in Colorado on June 29, 2020, to the case brought by Wildearth Guardians and WWP.
“This case could start the dominos falling throughout the Western U.S. If we do not defeat the radical environmentalists, ranching could be prohibited on significant portions of land in the Southern Rockies. Ranchers and their communities would be devastated economically,” MSLF wrote on its website concerning the case. — Charles Wallace, WLJ correspondent
