S. Idaho grazing plan that destroyed sagebrush is rejected

A federal administrative law judge has rejected a plan for public land grazing allotments in south-central Idaho that would have destroyed re-emerging sagebrush in favor of non-native plants to increase forage for cattle and sheep.

The ruling last week directs the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to set aside its final grazing decisions for about 80 square miles of allotments in Twin Falls County.

The administrative law judge in the Interior Department’s Office of Hearings and Appeals concluded that destroying sagebrush and rabbitbrush to increase livestock forage on public lands couldn’t be justified.

Wildlands Defense and Prairie Falcon Audubon in 2017 appealed the Bureau of Land Management’s decision involving 18 permittees on 21 allotments that would have destroyed native plants.