PHOENIX— Federal land managers have allowed years of extensive damage from livestock grazing to streamside habitats vital for endangered plants and animals in Arizona and New Mexico, according to a report published today by the Center for Biological Diversity.
“This report spotlights the federal government’s chronic failure to protect the fragile habitats set aside for endangered species on public lands in the Southwest,” said Chris Bugbee, Southwest conservation advocate at the Center. “These animals and plants don’t have a chance at survival if the streams they rely on are allowed to be devoured by hungry cows and made into stinking manure pits year after year. Federal agencies must act now to get cows out of these sensitive habitats where they don’t belong.”
Based on eight years of field surveys, the report urges the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and Fish and Wildlife Service to quickly protect riparian and aquatic critical habitat for threatened and endangered species by removing cattle from these sensitive areas.
Half of the roughly 2,400 miles surveyed since 2017 showed significant damage to critical habitat from livestock grazing and 13% of the areas showed moderate damage, the report says.
The surveys spanned 178 Forest Service and 35 Bureau of Land Management grazing allotments in Arizona and New Mexico, and critical habitat administered by both agencies outside of allotments. This includes two BLM-administered national monuments (Grand Staircase-Escalante and Agua Fria) and two BLM-administered riparian national conservation areas (Gila Box and San Pedro).
The surveys have documented damage from authorized, unauthorized, trespassing and feral livestock grazing within federally designated critical habitat. The Center and its allies have used the data to support lawsuits that have resulted in 3,657 livestock being removed from riparian and critical habitat in both states.
Livestock damage the habitat by defecating and urinating in water, trampling streambanks and channels, and devouring or destroying vegetation, which prevents new riparian forests from growing. Removing livestock from riparian areas is critical to curbing the extinction crisis in the Southwest.
The ongoing surveys involve critical habitat for rare fish (including the spikedace, loach minnow, Gila chub and razorback sucker), reptiles and amphibians (Chiricahua leopard frog, Jemez Mountains salamander, narrow-headed garter snake and northern Mexican garter snake), birds (southwestern willow flycatcher, western yellow-billed cuckoo and Mexican spotted owl), mammals (New Mexico meadow jumping mouse and jaguar) and plants (Arizona eryngo and Huachuca water umbel).
Many peer-reviewed studies have documented that removing cattle correlates with increased plant productivity, tree recruitment and more breeding birds, especially in riparian ecosystems. Protecting ground cover and native tree seedlings in years when there is enough rainfall and moisture are among the best ways to ensure future riparian forests that can support native wildlife.
“The good news is that creeks and riparian areas have begun to recover in the places where our litigation has kept cows out,” said Bugbee. “Full recovery will take decades.”
The Center’s surveys are limited to areas legally set aside for species recovery, which means there are thousands of miles of degraded streams where cattle harms have not been documented.
“Federal agencies can protect the most important habitat from livestock with minimal effort,” said Bugbee. “By routinely failing to safeguard these small and mighty portions of the arid Southwest ecosystem, agencies are pushing endangered species closer to extinction. I hope this report will spur them to act while there’s still time.”
