Forwarded by Jane Clark at [log in to unmask]

There is a related article in the current Sierran on page 21 about the US
Forest Service and BLM continuing to offer cut-rate grazing for private
livestock on public lands.  There is an interesting comparison on the cost
to graze sheep and cattle versus cats and dogs.  If you can't find your
Sierran or haven't received it yet, let me know and I'll type it in for
you.

Jane C.
=========================================================
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER)

October 27, 1999
PEERmail:

Illegal Grazing at Mojave Preserve
__________________________________________________________
GRAZING PROGRAM AT MOJAVE PRESERVE IS ILLEGAL, EMPLOYEES CHARGE
Permits Expire at End of Week

On the Mojave National Preserve, the National Park Service is running its
largest grazing program in violation of an array of environmental laws,
according to an employee-authored report released today by Public Employees
for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).   In the report, entitled Tortoise
on the Half-Shell, Park Service employees detail how legal protections for
wildlife have been flaunted, critical scientific data ignored and grazing
abuses in the Mojave's arid landscapes are "unmonitored, unregulated and
untouchable."

Created in 1994, the Mojave National Preserve is a 1.5 million acre park in
southeastern California.  It contains one of the world's most diverse
desert
ecosystems and is home to the desert tortoise, a creature classified as
"threatened" under the Endangered Species Act.

The Mojave National Preserve now supports more commercial livestock
grazing than any other unit of the National Park System.  On October 31,
1999, grazing permits for more than 38,000 "animal unit months" (i.e., 30
days of forage for a cow and a calf) on 1.28 million acres in the Preserve
are scheduled to lapse.  According to the PEER report, these leases will be
automatically renewed without environmental study, public notice or review.

With the creation of the Preserve, the Interior Department developed a
Desert Tortoise Recovery Plan which designates more than half of the park
as critical habitat for the species.  Despite the Plan's finding that
cattle
"affect desert tortoise and their habitats negatively" by trampling turtles
and their eggs, destroying streams and depleting needed food sources and
recommendation that domestic livestock grazing at the Mojave Preserve
cease, the Preserve plans to renew leases without any restrictions.

"Managers of the Mojave are guilty of gross environmental malpractice,
according to their own specialists,"commented PEER Executive Director
Jeff Ruch.  "Ironically, the Mojave's actions coincide with the National
Park Service Director's announcement of a new 'Action Plan for Preserving
Natural Resources' pledging better planning and monitoring of conditions
affecting threatened and endangered species.  The Park Service needs to
practice what it preaches."

(To order a  copy of Tortoise on the Half-Shell call PEER at 202/265-7337.
The cost is $5.00.  The Executive Summary of this report and many others
can be found at http://www.peer.org/publications/whitepapers.html

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