Group sues over federal grazing plan

BOISE, IDA HO» The U.S. government is keeping details secret about a cattle grazing program in six Western states, including Colorado, that could be harming habitat and endangered species, an environmental group says.

In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court, Western Watersheds Project said the Interior Department is unlawfully withholding information from the public about a grazing initiative announced in 2017.

“This is the latest example of the (Trump) administration favoring industrial agriculture over conservation, biodiversity and wildlife,” said Scott Lake, Idaho director of Western Watersheds Project.

The group is asking a federal judge to force the government to release information about the program in Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Montana, Wyoming and Colorado.

The environmental group said the program puts private ranchers in charge of grazing on public lands without regard for wildlife such as struggling sage grouse and endangered salmon.

The U.S. Justice Department, which defends agencies in lawsuits, didn’t immediately respond to an inquiry about the suit Wednesday from The Associated Press.

In announcing the program, then-Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said it would provide grazing permit holders an unprecedented level of flexibility while also protecting public lands.

The Interior Department plan involves lands administered by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. The plan sites “OutcomeBased Grazing Authorizations,” which it said would “emphasize conservation performance, ecological outcomes and cooperative management of public lands that will also provide greater opportunity for an operator to manage ranching operations that are both economically and environmentally sustainable.”

Western Watersheds Project filed a Freedom of Information Act request to find out how the plan was working. But the group said in its lawsuit that the Bureau of Land Management didn’t make a final determination about the request and the Interior Department never made a decision about the group’s appeal seeking the information.

The group said those lack of responses and missed deadlines are violations of the Freedom of Information Act.