Greater Yellowstone Coalition
Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance
National Parks Conservation Association
April 22, 2009
Dale Deiter, District Ranger
Jackson District, Bridger-Teton National Forest
Box 1689
Jackson, WY 83001
Re: Cattle Corrals in the Path of the Pronghorn Near Slate Creek and the Gros Ventre River
Dear Ranger Deiter:
Thank you for taking the time to meet with the Greater Yellowstone Coalition and the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance on February 18, 2009, to discuss, among other topics, the U.S. Forest Service’s (USFS’s) decision to authorize cattle corrals and associated structures, operations and activities in the migration path of the pronghorn near Slate Creek and Gros Ventre River in the Bridger Teton National Forest (BTNF).
The undersigned organizations acknowledge the efforts of the Bridger-Teton National Forest to preserve pronghorn antelope migration by designating a protected corridor in the BTNF Forest Plan. This protected migration corridor was a very positive step forward in helping to achieve this goal. It is time to implement the protections offered in the plan. While we understand the BTNF may manage for many uses on the forest, livestock grazing being one of those uses, we expect the BTNF will do everything in its power to ensure the highest standard of protection within this corridor. The current violations detailed herein require decisive action by forest managers to maintain the integrity of this corridor and comply with law. We believe that the USFS understands the risk we all face in possibly losing Jackson Hole's pronghorn population, and should act decisively to make sure that uses within the corridor do not violate law and do not violate the very protections put in place to prevent the loss of this iconic species.
1. The corrals violate the National Environmental Policy Act
As you know, we remain concerned and disappointed by the USFS’s failure to engage in a thoroughpublic review, environmental assessment, or alternatives analysis for this decision as required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), 42 U.S.C. § 4321 et seq. We are also concerned and disappointed that the USFS has failed to ensure consistency with the plain language and spirit of the BTNF’s Land and Resource Management Plan (Forest Plan) amendment to protect and preserve the pronghorn migration corridor as required by the National Forest Management Act (NFMA), 16 U.S.C. § 1604 (i).
Documents in our possession reveal that the USFS’s decision to authorize “temporary” cattle corrals and associated activities in the pronghorn corridor was made pursuant to a September 4, 2007 modification to the permitees’ 2007 Annual Operating Instruction (AOI). To date, the corrals remain in place more than 1 1/2 years later. As such, the decision for corrals, associated structures, operations, and activities was not made pursuant to a categorical exclusion (CE) and documented in a decision memo, or included in an environmental assessment (EA), or analyzed in an environmental impact statement (EIS) as required by NEPA. Nor were the new cattle corrals, associated structures, operations and activities authorized pursuant to a special use permit (SUP) or mentioned in the permittees’ ten year grazing permit or allotment management plan (AMP).
In addition, the ongoing issue of the lack of compliance with NEPA on the Upper Gros Ventre grazing allotment (UGV allotment) calls into question actions such as allowing the corrals, etc., which appear to make incremental and permanent changes. Committing significant resources and approving long-term use of the corrals, structures, operations and activities appears to be a de facto decision to continue cattle grazing on USFS lands in the Gros Ventre drainage, including the UGV allotment. It must be pointed out again to the BTNF that although the corrals are miles away from the UGV allotment, the BTNF has permitted the corrals to service the cattle grazed on the UGV allotment and possibly other cattle as well. The US Forest Service (USFS) may not tier a new decision to a decision not yet made when the activities are so closely connected, nor may the USFS subsequently tier the decision arising from the expected NEPA of the UGV allotment, whenever that gets done, to decisions previously made for the corrals. The USFS must analyze not only the effects of the facilities and activities but also the direct, indirect, cumulative and connected effects of such actions. Such connected actions may not be improperly segmented into smaller portions to avoid conducting a comprehensive NEPA analysis.
To date, therefore, the USFS has yet to follow its own legal directives and procedures and take the requisite hard look at the direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts of the decision and evaluate reasonable alternative locations and designs for the corrals as required by NEPA. Wildlife biologists (federal, state, and private) and interested members of the public, for instance, have yet to be given the opportunity to carefully review any USFS analysis of alternatives and submit meaningful comments on how the corrals and associated structures may affect the pronghorn’s migration corridor. Instead, the decision was inserted into a modification to an AOI without public review, comment, or oversight. Without question, this approach to authorizing projects and managing our National Forest lands is a violation of NEPA that must be rectified.
2. The corrals violate the National Forest Management Act and the Bridger-Teton National Forest Plan
The USFS’s decision to authorize the corrals in the pronghorn corridor also violates the National Forest Management Act (NFMA). On May 31, 2008 the Forest Supervisor for the BTNF issued a final decision designating a pronghorn migration corridor in the BTNF and adopting an enforceable Forest Plan standard mandating that “[a]ll projects, activities, and infrastructure authorized in the designated Pronghorn Migration Corridor . . .be designated, timed, and/or located to allow continued successful migration of the pronghorn that summer in Jackson Hole and winter in the Green River basin.”
The purpose of the Forest Plan amendment was to ensure that all site specific projects and activities located within the migration corridor -- like the cattle corrals and associated structures and operations at issue here – allow for the continued successful migration of pronghorn. As mentioned above, however, because the USFS has yet to engage in a thorough analysis of how the cattle corrals, and associated structures and operations, may individually or cumulatively affect pronghorn movement, the USFS is not ensuring compliance with the Forest Plan standard.
Indeed, the USFS states in the May 31, 2008 decision notice and finding of no significant impact (DN/FONSI) for the Forest Plan amendment that before activities “can be authorized, a determination must be made that the activity will allow continued successful migration” of pronghorn from Jackson Hole to the Green River basin. But for a few conclusory statements made by the USFS, however, no such determination or careful analysis of how the corrals may affect the corridor has been made.
The location of the corrals also violates the Forest Plan in other ways. The cattle corral site in the Path of the Pronghorn near Slate Creek and the Gros Ventre River is adjacent to or within Desired Future Condition (DFC) 3, River Recreation (LRMP:173) and DFC 12, Backcountry Big-Game Hunting, Dispersed Recreation, and Wildlife Security (LRMP:241). See the map at LRMP:272.
DFC 3, River Recreation is to be managed for river-and scenic-recreation experiences. The “Facility Improvement Standard” (LRMP:174) requires that, “Where facilities exist . . . structures will be designed to protect and enhance scenic and recreation values”. The cattle corrals do not meet this standard.
For DFC 12, the LRMP requires that it is, “an area managed for high quality wildlife and escape cover” (LRMP:241). “Livestock grazing is permitted on other big-game ranges if it does not conflict with wildlife needs . . . “(LRMP:242). The LRMP also states, “Livestock are not permitted on crucial big-game winter ranges closed to grazing.” (Ibid) This area where the cattle corrals are constructed near the Slate Creek and Gros Ventre River is also included in the 1919 Elk Restriction area and is closed to grazing. Allowing the corrals to remain along with associated use by livestock effectively turns this area into a de facto grazing allotment. The Forest Plan Allotment Management Plan Standard (LRMP:127) that addresses the need to protect big game winter forage and the Livestock Movement Standard (ibid) state, “Trucking of some stock will be required to prevent other resource damage.” Therefore, according to the LRMP, cattle corrals and other structures at this location are not needed, due to the trucking provision in the Forest Plan, nor are they permissible.
With this letter, the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, and the National Parks Conservation Association hereby respectfully request and urge the USFS to order the removal of the illegal cattle corrals and associated structures as soon as possible. Since all roads in the Gros Ventre Valley are scheduled to be passable by June 1, 2009, we ask you to undertake such action by June 10, 2009. Please notify us within 30 days of this letter if and when you intend to take such action. In the future, if the USFS should decide to authorize any corrals or associated projects it must undertake the requisite NEPA analysis and NFMA consistency review before authorizing cattle corrals or projects.
In closing, thank you in advance for taking the time to consider our concerns. If you have any questions or comments concerning the contents of this letter please do not hesitate to contact us at your earliest convenience.
Sincerely,
Lloyd Dorsey
Greater Yellowstone Coalition
Wyoming Representative
Box 4857 Jackson, WY 83001
734-6004
and on behalf of:
Louise Lasley
Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance
Public Lands Director
Box 2728 Jackson, WY 83001
733-9417
Sharon Mader
National Parks Conservation Association
Grand Teton Program Manager
Box 1173 Jackson, WY 83001
733-4680
Cc:
Kniffy Hamilton, BTNF
Tim Fuchs, WGFD
Matthew Bishop, Western Environmental Law Center
Jonathan Ratner, Western Watersheds Project
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