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Drought policy will establish ecological and precipitation standards to guide management of livestock grazing and other uses on national forests in New Mexico and Arizona Santa Fe, NM - In response to a formal request by WildEarth Guardians, the U.S. Forest Service is proposing to develop a regional drought policy and establish ecological and precipitation standards to guide management of livestock grazing and other uses on national forests in New Mexico and Arizona. In an April 9, 2004 letter to a variety of stakeholders, the regional office of the Forest Service announced its plans to solicit initial input on the yet-to-be formulated drought policy. WildEarth Guardians filed a petition in June 2002 requesting the Southwestern Region of the U.S. Forest Service to adopt a formal drought policy. The petition claimed that in failing to develop and implement a drought policy that protects fragile southwestern habitats from damaging uses, National Forests have failed to fulfill their duty to steward public lands for the benefit of all Americans. The petition underscored the devastating consequences of livestock grazing in times of drought. "Though we welcome this development, a regional drought policy is long overdue," said Billy Stern, Grazing Program Coordinator for WildEarth Guardians. "This should have been done a decade ago, long before the last eight years of drought and reactive grazing management have further degraded the fragile ecosystems on our national forests," added Stern. Prior to petitioning the agency, WildEarth Guardians found that only two of the eleven National Forests in the region had formal drought policies in place. Many Forests responded to the drought by closing their doors to recreational users, while failing to exercise the same urgent decisiveness with respect to livestock grazing. The petition cites extensive literature revealing that when continued during a period of severe drought, grazing can cause long-lasting damages to watersheds, riparian areas, and wildlife from which an area may never recover. WildEarth Guardians contends that grazing permittees should be the first to be asked to relinquish their Forest privileges, since livestock grazing, more than any other activity, exacerbates the effects of drought. "Two weeks of overgrazing during drought conditions can easily cause damage that will take two or more years of recovery - if recover occurs at all," said Stern. The petition notes that researchers believe that severe over-grazing during the 1891-1893 drought appears to have permanently transformed rich grassland into desert scrub. "Livestock operators who are already subsided by the taxpayers should not be allowed to conduct business as usual while deer, elk, bear, rare plants, endangered species, streams, rivers, campers and hikers are all expected to sacrifice," Stern added. The April 9, 2004 letter to stakeholders proclaimed the Forest Service's desire "to solicit ideas from a cross section of Forest Service stakeholders as to what type of direction and/or guidelines would be appropriate from the Regional level to guide national forest management during periods of drought such as that experienced throughout the Southwest Region for the past number of years." Comments on the policy are requested by May 3, 2004. As stated in its petition, WildEarth Guardians believes the Forest Service should develop drought policies utilizing the Palmer Drought Index and/or the Standard Precipitation Index (SPI), both objective scientific methodologies, to determine those areas that are afflicted with drought. The Tonto National Forest, the only national forest with an ecologically credible drought policy, already uses SPI as an ecological barometer to determine when livestock grazing is inappropriate. WildEarth Guardians seeks to preserve and restore native wildlands and wildlife in the American Southwest through fundamental reform of public policies and practices. |
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