The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) recently announced it plans to halt vegetation spraying in Wyoming’s Bighorn National Forest to control invasive weeds after environmental groups raised objections to the plan.
Following a hearing with multiple environmental groups that raised objections to the plan, USFS Deputy Regional Forester Jacque Buchanan told them in an email, “The Responsible Official will drop from his decision in the final Record of Decision all sagebrush treatments, as well as treatments of other native plants, to include duncecap larkspur,” if the organizations would agree to drop their opposition to the proposed plan.
USFS proposed to treat up to 76,500 acres of mountain big sagebrush and duncecap larkspur over 15 years to control noxious weeds in the 1.1 million acre reserve. The plan called for treating approximately 5,310 acres of invasive plant species annually and 5,100 acres of mountain big sagebrush using a combination of prescribed burning, mowing, ground-based applications of herbicides and aerial applications of herbicides.
Bighorn Audubon Society and Audubon Rockies, Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics, Western Watersheds Project, Council for the Bighorn Range, and Bighorn Native Plant Society raised objections to the plan, stating it would harm native vegetation, especially as it relates to wildlife and water quality.
After Buchanan’s announcement at the meeting on Oct. 19, JoAnne Puckett, president of the Bighorn Audubon Society, issued a statement: “This is great news for birds, other wildlife, native plants, and the Bighorn National Forest. After over two years of participating in this process by submitting comments, attending many meetings, surveying, engaging with other stakeholders and presenting sound resolutions, we are thankful the Forest Service will be removing treatment of sagebrush, larkspur and other native plants from this plan.”
Puckett told WLJthe organization supports multiple uses on public lands.
“We are not opposed to grazing in the Bighorn National Forest,” Puckett said. “In fact, livestock management—when applied strategically and based on science—can be a valuable vegetation management tool used in lieu of herbicides and/or other mechanical treatments.”
The final environmental impact statement (FEIS) called for a stocking level of 113,800 animal unit months but allowed for adjustments through the implementation of allotment management plans. “Proper timing, intensity, duration, and frequency of the grazing treatment are critical to achieve invasive plant species control without long-lasting adverse effects on native vegetation,” the FEIS said. The FEIS also said grazing would not eradicate mature infestations of invasive species alone.
Jonathan Ratner, director for Wyoming and Utah at Western Watersheds Project, had a different take and told WLJ the spraying was proposed for the benefit of cattle.
“The killing of sagebrush is something both the (Bureau of Land Management) and Forest Service did widely following WWII (with) the advent of toxic herbicides,” Ratner said. “It (has) long since been discarded as extremely damaging to the ecosystem, but the Bighorn National Forest clung to the discredited practice, to prop up its unsustainable stocking rates which are the highest in the entire Forest Service system. We are glad to see the (USFS) Regional Office has pushed back against this Neanderthalic practice.”
Ratner initially raised objections to the stocking rate in the forest and pointed to poor rangeland conditions as being indicative of high stocking rates. Ratner also raised objections to the use of pesticides, stating the FEIS provided no authority for using pesticides to kill sagebrush.
The Wyoming Department of Agriculture supported the use of herbicides with livestock grazing. It noted that USFS should be allowed to change grazing permits to address specific invasive weed infestations.
USFS has not indicated the next step for invasive weed control and whether they will pursue other methods in the project documents. — Charles Wallace, WLJ editor
