Conservation groups sue Trump administration over livestock grazing in Arizona

Cattle grazing is a threat to numerous species that live and grow along rivers, the nonprofits say.(CN) — A pair of nonprofits sued the Trump administration Wednesday in an effort to stop what they say is “unlawful cattle grazing” in southeast Arizona.“This lawsuit is the direct result of years of federal neglect that have allowed illegal cattle grazing to trash southeastern Arizona’s desert streams and devastate endangered species,” said Chris Bugbee of the Center for Biological Diversity, in a written statement. “It’s high time federal agencies follow the law and provide animals and plants teetering on the edge of extinction the habitat they need to survive and recover.”In their complaint, filed in federal court, the two conservations groups say the Bureau of Land Management has been relying on an opinion issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2024, which authorized cattle grazing in the Gila District, a section of public land managed by the bureau. According to the Center for Biological Diversity and the Maricopa Bird Alliance, that authorization violates the Endangered Species Act, because it affects “numerous imperiled species and their habitat,” as the groups say in their complaint.Cattle grazing, particularly along the Gila river and its tributaries, threatens a panoply of species, including “the southwestern willow flycatcher, yellow-billed cuckoo, Gila chub, Gila topminnow, razorback sucker, spikedace, loach minnow, narrow-headed garter snake, and northern Mexican garter snake.”Cattle grazing near rivers and streams is often regulated, and sometimes illegal, depending on clean water regulations. Cows can pollute waterways with feces and urine, and can trample banks and strip vegetation, which destroys habitat.The 81-page complaint cites six years of field surveys, which found continuing damage to endangered species habitat from cattle grazing that the environmentalists say is supposed to be illegal. The surveys found, according to the nonprofits, that “livestock grazing has adversely modified” more than half of the habitat of both the northern Mexican garter snake and yellow-billed cuckoos in Arizona and New Mexico.“Of all riparian critical habitat surveyed, 85% (2070.9 miles—roughly the distance between Detroit and San Francisco) were damaged by livestock grazing,” the plaintiffs say in their complaint.They added the report again concluded that the only way to prevent grazing from degrading critical habitat is the complete exclusion of livestock from such places.“When people visit our public lands today they find waterways polluted with cow feces and damaged ecosystems unable to support imperiled wildlife," Bugbee said in the statementSubscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads