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Take action and help protect 13,000 livestock-free acres in Bridger-Teton National Forest from cattle! Comments due December 27, 2021

Upper Gros Ventre, Photo by J. Rather/WWP

A bull trout in the Little Lost River in Idaho. BART GAMETT U.S. FOREST SERVICE  Read more here: https://www.idahostatesman.com/outdoors/fishing/article224489350.html#storylink=cpy

December 15, 2021

In a classic example of the adage “Bad ideas never die,” the Bridger Teton National Forest is proposing to open four livestock-free grazing allotments to new cattle.

The allotments – known as the “Elk Ridge Complex” in the Upper Green River area – had been bought out by conservation organizations and closed to livestock use for the sake of improving wildlife habitat and reducing livestock conflict with grizzlies, wolves, and bighorn sheep. Now, the U.S. Forest Service seeks to open the allotments for livestock use once again, undoing the recovery created through livestock rest and inviting additional problems with the area’s predators.

You can help us stop this madness by commenting on the proposed action by December 27th!

The project is described in more detail here (https://bit.ly/3oZaoLk), and it entails putting livestock on 13,000 acres on the Tosi Creek, Elk Ridge, Lime Creek and Rock Creek allotments. All of these except the Rock Creek allotment are within the Gros Ventre Wilderness, making the proposal to put livestock back onto rested areas that much more egregious.

Contact the Forest Service and share your thoughts, including ideas such as:

  • The need to protect this special area for wildlife and ecosystem values.
  • Leave vacant allotments vacant! There’s no need to reopen these closed areas.
  • The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is too valuable to be damaged by more livestock.
  • Adding livestock to Wilderness violates the letter and spirit of the designation.
  • Permittees were paid to willingly leave the allotments, and the agency is acting in bad faith by considering returning livestock in this area.

You can comment online here (https://bit.ly/3IShNnj) or submit written comments to: Mark Foster, Acting District Ranger, Pinedale Ranger District, PO Box 220, Pinedale, WY 82941.

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