View into the Tosi Creek watershed and Gros Ventre Wilderness, part of the Elk Ridge Complex. Photo: John Carter.
In a couple of sentences buried deep in so-called “annual operating instructions”, the Bridger Teton National Forest decided to allow cattle from the Upper Green River allotment, an area of 170,000 acres in the Forest, to enter the vacant Elk Ridge Complex. The Elk Ridge Complex of 30,000 acres is partly within the Gros Ventre Wilderness.
The Elk Ridge allotments were bought out a decade ago to remove domestic sheep from conflicts with bears. Even after a decade of rest from livestock grazing, the Elk Ridge area remains highly degraded with plant communities that produce less than a quarter of what should be there. Soil erosion and stream damage remain evident. The last time it was reviewed for capacity to graze cattle was in 1978. The Forest Service determined then that it lacked water and livestock infrastructure needed to support cattle.
Grizzly bears find refuge and security in Elk Ridge with no livestock and few people. However, the die-off of whitebark pine increases the stress for bears to find food. Whitebark pine seeds are a vital high-fat, food for grizzly bears. Whitebark pines in Wyoming are dying primarily due to a combination of an invasive fungal disease called white pine blister rust, outbreaks of native mountain pine beetles, and accelerating climate change. These combined threats led to the tree being listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act
In the fall, bears eat massive amounts of these nuts to gain fat before winter hibernation, which directly improves their survival rates and female reproductive success. Another food source is the plants – grasses, flowers, roots, and berries that occur here. Without livestock in the Elk Ridge area, what remains of the residual plant community after decades of abuse by sheep, is available for the bears.
Dead whitebark pines in the Elk Ridge Complex. Photo: John Carter.
To now allow cattle into this place clearly creates a major conflict as well as a rich food source for the bears – cattle. So, bears die for being bad actors and killing livestock, while the real culprits are the ranchers and agency people that unethically place the livestock into these places in spite of their own data showing it is not needed.
Yellowstone to Uintas Connection, Sage Steppe Wild, Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Native Ecosystems Council, and Council on Fish and Wildlife filed a Notice of Intent to Sue the Bridger Teton National Forest over this decision that allows the livestock permittees from the Upper Green allotment to bring cattle into the vacant Elk Ridge Complex of allotments. The decision was based on the Forest Service claim that the recent Dollar Lake Fire burned pastures in the Upper Green River allotment and caused a forage deficit.
In a decision in 2019, grizzly bear conflicts in the Upper Green allotment were resolved by the US Fish and Wildlife Service allowing up to 72 bears to be killed for conflicts with wildlife. The ranchers were given “voluntary” conditions. So, there are no real consequences to the ranchers for saturating the landscape with cattle in prime grizzly habitat.
The Elk Ridge Complex in dark blue adjacent to the Upper Green allotment in light blue. The footprint of the Dollar Lake Fire is shown in red. Map by John Carter.
The Elk Ridge allotments have a history of grizzly bear conflicts with livestock as well. In 2016, conservation organizations funded a voluntary buyout of the permittee, who had experienced problems with bear conflicts.
The permit was waived back to the Forest Service with the understanding that domestic sheep would not return in order to protect bighorn sheep that are susceptible to disease carried by domestic sheep. The Forest Service acknowledged in a letter to the permittee that no cattle would be brought into those allotments until an analysis of capacity and infrastructure was conducted through a public process or Forest Plan revision.
Now, without that analysis, the Bridger Teton NF, the Sublette County Conservation District, the Nature Conservancy, and the livestock permittees who graze cattle in the Upper Green allotments decided to rest those burned pastures and graze the vacant Elk Ridge allotments.
This was done in private without any public notice or input. This is the Back Room Deal. One of those permittees is running to represent the people of Sublette County in the State Legislature. I asked him to oppose this but nothing. I thought Republicans were fighting these “Deep State” tactics. But, here in Wyoming we will elect anyone who wears a cowboy hat.
Aside from the ethical issues, there are other problems.
The Forest Service said it would rest the burned pastures. Yet inspection of the burned areas shows that the areas used by cattle, that is, valleys and open areas, did not burn. The fire was mostly limited to forested areas the cattle don’t use. And yet the Forest Service still planned to graze those “burned” pastures with over 1200 cattle. As I write this, cattle are in those “burned” pastures. (Liar, liar, pants on fire!).
Twenty years of monitoring done by the Bridger Teton National Forest Range conservationists, the Sublette County Conservation District, and the permittees showed the average use in that period was 11% while allowable use is 50%. So, their data shows there is no deficit in forage. This says there is no need for more grazing on the Elk Ridge allotments. We have repeatedly asked them to explain this forage deficit. They are too cowardly to answer.
The legal hook is that the Forest Service told the Fish and Wildlife Service that the burned pastures would be rested, i.e., not grazed by livestock. Yet they scheduled 1,245 cattle into the two pastures and they are grazing there now. That is not rest, so any decision by the US Fish and Wildlife Service based on this false information invalidates any biological opinion they might produce.
It’s time for the Forest Service to respect the public trust, our wildlife, and their habitat, and stop this now. This is clearly a failed wish in today’s world of corrupt politics and sold-out agencies.
