"Public Lands: Greens Sue Forest Service For Kowtowing To Grazers"

"Environmentalists this week sued the Forest Service, accusing the agency of kowtowing to 'scofflaw grazing permittees' on public lands in Utah.

The Idaho-based Western Watersheds Project filed a lawsuit Wednesday alleging the Forest Service is allowing 'excessive stocking rates, repeated trespass, and non-compliance with federal regulations' on Monroe Mountain in south-central Utah.

'When I visited these allotments last month with other members, we saw severe over-use of new aspen shoots and native bunchgrasses, as well as damage to riparian areas near springs,' the Western Watersheds Project's ecosystems specialist, Laura Welp, said in a statement announcing the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah."

Jennifer Yachnin reports for Greenwire November 22, 2019.

Source: Greenwire, 11/25/2019