ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) – An environmental group accused the U.S. Forest Service of failing to adequately monitor livestock grazing allotments in New Mexico and Arizona and allowing overgrazing.

The Santa Fe-based Forest Guardians compiled the report with data provided by the Forest Service under the Freedom of Information Act, said Billy Stern, grazing program director for Forest Guardians.

Cattle interests urged caution with the study, saying the interpretation appeared to be based on a desired outcome.

“We live on the ground every day and we don’t see what they’re saying is out there,” said Caren Cowan, director of the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association.

The report, released Tuesday and based on data compiled between 1999 and 2003, said the worst year was 1999, when 75 percent of grazing allotments in the two states did not comply with the National Environmental Policy Act.

According to the data used, the Apache-Sitgreaves, Prescott and Tonto national forests in Arizona, the Coronado national forest in both states and the Lincoln National Forest in southern New Mexico had 50 percent or more allotments out of compliance for all five years of the study.

“We found that the Forest Service failed to monitor a significant number of allotments and of those allotments, utilization violations occur in significant numbers,” the report said.

However, Forest Guardians acknowledged it used only data provided, and assumed there was no monitoring when there was no data for a particular allotment.

Dave Stewart, director of rangeland management for the Forest Service in Albuquerque, said the agency could not comment directly because of pending lawsuits. However, he said various methods of monitoring and management are used, depending on the objectives for each allotment.



DENVER (AP) – Members of a new task force believe that wolves that wander into Colorado from neighboring states should be left alone unless they start killing livestock.

The Colorado Wolf Working Group reached the consensus last week and will present its final recommendations to the state Division of Wildlife next month.

The group began meeting after a dead wolf traced to Yellowstone National Park was found in June along Interstate 70 about 30 miles west of Denver.

At first, several ranchers and hunters on the panel thought that wolves posed too much of a danger to livestock and big game to allow any in the state. Since then, state biologist Gary Skiba said that members of the panel have agreed that not every wolf has to be killed immediately.

“We think the best approach is to live and let live,” said rancher and task force member Jean Stetson.

For now, the task force will only make recommendations on what to do about the first wave of wolves expected to migrate south from Yellowstone. Later, if packs of wolves establish themselves in the state, Stetson said ranchers will want to look at tighter controls.

In the 1990s, gray wolves from Canada were released in Yellowstone and central Idaho, and Mexican wolves were released in Arizona in federal efforts to restore them to parts of their native range.

Wolves have flourished in the Yellowstone area, growing to a population of about 750 in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. Recovery has been less successful in Arizona and New Mexico.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.