Following court approval, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) will reconsider whether to authorize livestock grazing at Montana’s Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. The decision comes in the wake of a petition led by environmental groups that argued cattle grazing harms the refuge’s wildlife and habitat.
“The Fish and Wildlife Service has a duty to manage Red Rock Lakes to protect and preserve wildlife and habitat, but for decades it allowed ranchers to graze cattle on public land with little oversight and no consideration of the harm that grazing has had on the Refuge’s wildlife,” said Chris Krupp of WildEarth Guardians.
In response to a 2024 lawsuit, the USFWS on Dec. 15, 2025, voluntarily moved to remand the matter without vacatur of the commercial special use permits that authorize cattle grazing. While the environmental groups objected to keeping the permits in place, a judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana granted the agency’s motion.
“Plaintiffs insist that remand without vacatur is improper for numerous reasons that sit on the spectrum between the ‘relative extremes of bad faith and substantial and legitimate concerns,’” wrote District Judge Donald W. Molloy in his order. “Plaintiffs’ argument is unpersuasive.”
USFWS will now reevaluate its determination authorizing livestock grazing at the Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, reconsider its grazing permit approach and reevaluate potential impacts of cattle grazing at the refuge.
Background
The Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge is located in southwestern Montana’s Centennial Valley and is the largest wetland system in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. While the refuge was established in 1935, cattle were first introduced by settlers to the area in 1876.
After the refuge was created, livestock grazing was discontinued due to overgrazing concerns. Grazing was reevaluated over the years, renewed and discontinued as deemed necessary, until 1994 when USFS set a management plan in place. As part of the plan, refuge staff were to monitor grazing prospects for each upcoming year rather than use a pre-determined rest-rotation schedule.
In 2009, USFWS issued a comprehensive plan that determined grazing as a compatible use on the refuge, as long as several stipulations are followed. When authorizing livestock grazing on refuge lands, USFWS is to enter into a cooperative agriculture agreement with private entities that also include special use permits. The permits are to be issued only if the use is found to align with the refuge’s mission or purposes.
In 2024, WildEarth Guardians and Western Watersheds Project filed suit against USFWS, arguing the agency authorized cattle grazing on the national wildlife refuge without conducting the necessary monitoring and studies. The groups challenged the agency’s 2023 issuance of five cooperative agriculture agreements, a compatibility determination and an environmental action statement.
“The Service admitted during court proceedings that it has never fully implemented the level of annual monitoring, analysis, and adjustments to livestock grazing set forth in its 1994 decision underpinning grazing permit authorizations,” the environmental group plaintiffs said.
The agency revealed it has never been able to fully implement the required monitoring as a result of staffing and resource shortages.
Three unsuccessful settlement attempts with the environmental groups led USFWS to ask the court for permission to reevaluate grazing impacts as long as the grazing permits could remain in place, which are authorized from June 2023 through Oct. 31, 2027. Molloy agreed in his Dec. 15 ruling.
USFWS plans to reevaluate its monitoring techniques and implement a new protocol in the summer of 2026 to collect the first round of vegetation data. The agency will factor in staffing and resource shortages into its new protocol.
USFWS also said it will plan to revisit “cattle grazing in general on the refuge,” and whether to “modify or eliminate livestock grazing on the refuge all together.” — Anna Miller Fortozo, WLJ managing editor
