Description: Challenge to the U.S. Forest Service’s authorization of livestock grazing on 270,000 acres in the Apache-Sitgreaves and Gila National Forests in Arizona and New Mexico.
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Western Watersheds Project v. Perdue
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 01/14/2021 Complaint Download Complaint filed. Lawsuit Said Forest Service Failed to Consider Cumulative Climate Change Impacts of Livestock Grazing. Two environmental organizations challenged the U.S. Forest Service’s authorization of livestock grazing on 270,000 acres in the Apache-Sitgreaves and Gila National Forests in Arizona and New Mexico. They asserted that the Forest Service violated NEPA by failing to prepare an environmental impact statement for the project, which they alleged would “result in cumulatively significant impacts when considered against the impacts of climate change – those impacts from higher temperature regimes, increased wildfire risk, and prolonged drought that are impending as the climate continues to change, and that are already visibly occurring.” They alleged that the environmental assessment failed to take a hard look at how livestock grazing would directly, indirectly, and cumulative impact forest resources and habitats already experiencing the impacts of drought and climate change.