The Center for Biological Diversity and the Maricopa Bird Alliance filed on Aug. 4 a notice of intent to sue the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), alleging that years of illegal cattle grazing have damaged critical habitat for endangered species in Arizona’s Tonto National Forest.
Chris Bugbee, southwest conservation advocate at the Center, described the situation as both urgent and preventable. “It’s outrageous that the federal agency tasked with protecting our public lands is instead facilitating their destruction,” Bugbee said. “By looking the other way and being beholden to ranchers, our federal land managers at the Forest Service are abdicating their responsibilities and condemning endangered animals to extinction.”
Criticism of BiOps
At the heart of the groups’ notice are USFWS’ Biological Opinions (BiOps), which authorize the USFS to allow continued grazing on 22 allotments within the national forest. According to the notice, these BiOps rely on “no-adverse-effect determinations” that grazing does not harm listed species or critical habitat—a position the groups call unlawful and arbitrary.
The groups argue that USFWS has repeatedly “rubberstamped” USFS’ grazing plans, even when new evidence shows widespread degradation. The groups point to the 2025 BiOp for the Lower Verde Complex as emblematic of the problem, alleging that it again relies on ineffective monitoring, outdated standards and “new promises of more photo points in spite of documentation that the established photo points have not been checked for years.”
The notice letter cites more than five years of field documentation claiming to show consistent riparian damage caused by cattle. The Center’s 2025 survey found that of 52 miles of streams examined, 65% were moderately to severely damaged. Across four years of surveys, the group documented impacts on 176 miles of desert streams.
Charles Babbitt, conservation chair of the Maricopa Bird Alliance, said the continued grazing reflects a breakdown in accountability. “There’s a crisis unfolding on the Tonto National Forest, where year after year, the fragile desert streams that endangered species need to survive are allowed to be damaged by cows that aren’t supposed to be there,” Babbitt said. “It’s an abuse of our public lands and it is imperative that the responsible officials fix this.”
Failures in oversight
The groups accuse USFS of failing to reinitiate consultation as required under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) when new information reveals harm to listed species, when grazing regimes are modified or when new species or habitats are listed. They also argue that many of the governing documents for grazing allotments are outdated.
“Many of the allotments contain listed species and/or designated critical habitat for which consultation has never been completed,” the notice states, calling this a “clear violation of sections 7 and 9 of the ESA.” Of the 25 allotments at issue, only 12 are covered by decision documents issued within the last decade, while nine rely on BiOps or concurrences so outdated they still reference impacts to the bald eagle, which was delisted in 2012.
Adding to the problem, the groups say, is widespread trespass grazing, both from non-permitted cattle and from cattle belonging to non-compliant permittees. The greens argue these permittees exploit the lack of agency monitoring and enforcement, knowing “there are no significant penalties for their non-compliance while they make money with their cows gaining weight and destroying the Tonto’s riparian areas.”
Riparian zones, though covering only 0.5% of Arizona’s land, support 75% of the state’s wildlife. Their loss has wide-reaching consequences. “Without a total ban on cow grazing in riparian areas and without diligent monitoring and strict, unbending enforcement, cow grazing authorizations are and will continue to result in destruction,” the notice claims.
As this marks the fourth notice of intent in five years, the Center for Biological Diversity and Maricopa Bird Alliance say the agencies have been given ample opportunity to correct course. The failure to act, they argue, is not only unlawful but deepens the extinction crisis in the Southwest.
“There is no place for cow grazing in riparian areas in the arid West,” the report notes. “Science, law and common sense demand its end.” — Charles Wallace, WLJ contributing editor
