RENO " Conservationists say in a new report that livestock grazing poses a threat to a wide variety of fish and wildlife across more than three-fourths of their dwindling habitat on federal land in the West.
Using satellite mapping and federal records, the environmental group last year began a study matching wildlife habitat and U.S. grazing allotments across more than 260 million acres of federal land in the West.
"The results confirm " in graphic form " previous research finding that incessant, ubiquitous public lands grazing has contributed to the decline of native wildlife," concludes the report entitled "Western Wildlife Under Hoof." The report is scheduled to be released today.
The group said continued grazing in ever-shrinking habitat hampers the recovery of fish and wildlife. Cattle and sheep trample vegetation, damage soil, spread invasive weeds, spoil water and deprive native wildlife of forage, the report said.
Mark Salvo, WildEarth Guardians' grazing program specialist and author of the report, said the new data suggests livestock have "done more damage to the Earth than the chain saw and bulldozer combined."
Jeff Eisenberg, director of federal lands for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, criticized the findings..
"There's a number of environmental groups that have decided the best way to spend their time and the money of their funders is to eliminate the families and communities that have made the West what it is today," he said. "These groups don't deserve a dignified response."
The Nevada Department of Wildlife shares concerns about dwindling wildlife populations but believes there is a place for grazing on public land, spokesman Chris Healy said.
If ranchers end up selling their land, it could be subdivided and lead to development even more problematic for wildlife, he said.
"It behooves us to get everybody who uses the land to be part of the solution and that's what we've been trying to do with the sage grouse. If one sector or user of the land feels like they are being ganged up on, the odds of coming up with a solution that will work are not good," he said.
The report found livestock grazing is permitted on 91 percent of the Greater sage grouse's habitat and that grazing operations are active on 72 percent of the habitat. Grazing is active on 55 percent of the federal range of the Gunnison sage grouse and is permitted on 84 percent of it.
Likewise, grazing is permitted on about 80 percent of public land in the historic range of several cutthroat trout species, including 88 percent of the Lahontan and 76 percent of the Bonneville.
It's also permitted on about 75 percent of the federal habitat of four species of prairie dogs.
"The species included in our report are representative of the hundreds of wildlife species that are threatened by public lands grazing," said Salvo, whose group has offices in Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona.
Other species examined included:
" Mexican spotted owl, 68 percent permitted, 67 percent active
" Mexican gray wolf, 82 percent permitted, 82 percent active
" Chiricahua leopard frog, 82 percent permitted, 75 percent active
" Sonoran desert tortoise, 53 percent permitted, 47 percent active
The bulk of the federal land studied is managed by the Bureau of Land Management, which issued grazing permits and leases to 15,799 ranchers and other operators covering 128 million acres of U.S. land in 2006.
BLM spokesman Jeff Krauss said the agency has not fully reviewed the report but maintains "well-managed grazing provides numerous ecological and environmental benefits."
Among other things, WildEarth Guardians recommends buying out permits from ranchers and others willing to remove their livestock from grazing land.
"There is a greater economic value in non-consumptive uses of public land " hunting, fishing, birdwatching, hiking, camping " than livestock grazing," the report said.
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On the Net:
WildEarth Guardians: www.wildearthguardians.org
National Cattlemen's Beef Association: www.beef.org
Society of Range Management: www.rangelands.org