2-27 IAN Sage Grouse ICA

 The Idaho Cattle Association (ICA) is encouraged by a U.S. District Court decision that affirms further protection of sage grouse under the Endangered Species Act is not warranted. In 2010, the U.S. Fish &Wildlife Service determined that listing of sage grouse was warranted; however, it was precluded by the need to direct resources towards species that were at greater risk.  Upon this determination, the anti-grazing activist group Western Watersheds Project then filed suit against Fish &Wildlife alleging that the species should have been fully listed. The ICA intervened in the case on behalf of the state’s cattle producers to prevent WWP’s constant efforts to destroy Idaho’s cattle industry. This decision, concluded by United States District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill, put a stop to the extremist group’s latest attempt at controlling land use management. Needless to say, Executive Vice President of the ICA, Wyatt Prescott, is pleased:“The consensus is that we are very pleased with the decision that Judge Winmill made.”

 While this decision is a step in the right direction, ICA contends that any federal listing of the species or reduction in livestock grazing to improve the species’ habitat is unnecessary and in fact, creates a process that stymies local conservation efforts.  When grazing is reduced, not only is there a decrease in active management of the land, but it also results in an increase in catastrophic wildfires, which happens to be primary threat to sage grouse species in Idaho.