Grazing in Colorado National Forest Needs More Study, Panel Says

The US Forest Service didn’t adequately consider the impact of domestic grazing allotments in the Rio Grande National Forest on bighorn sheep when it approved the allotments, an appeals panel ruled Friday.

The US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit said the agency violated the National Environmental Policy Act when the Forest Service eschewed the results of a risk of contact model between the wild and domesticated sheep populations that showed the vulnerable bighorn population would be at high risk of contracting respiratory disease. The panel remanded the case to a lower court to determine the appropriate remedy.

While ...