The Franklin Basin Allotment covers over 20,000 acres in the Bear River Range and on the Logan River, a critical Bonneville cutthroat trout fishery. The Bear River Range is the most critical wildlife corridor connecting the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem to the southern Rockies and Uintas to the south.
The Bear River Range in Idaho and Utah is heavily grazed by livestock, has extremely high road density, and is overrun with dirt bikes and ATVs during the summer and snowmobiles during the winter. Cattle and sheep dominate the habitat, removing forage that would support thousands of deer or elk and many more sage grouse and other forms of wildlife.
The Decision by the Forest Service continues unchanged the current stocking rate of 607 cattle from June until October each year and does little to restore the admittedly degraded conditions even though their own data shows the current stocking rate is 6 times what can be supported by the available forage. The Forest Fishery Biologist report recognizes that Bonneville cutthroat trout populations are declining and admits that the proposal will not improve their habitat.
Update !
Victory for Cutthroat trout and other wildlife in Utah
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