The lawsuit claims the Forest Service has violated the Endangered Species Act. Overgrazing is damaging habitat for the threatened Mexican spotted owl and driving away the small mammals the owl needs for food, according to the suit. Native species and their habitats could be lost forever if this trend continues. In that case, we all lose. The Prescott National Forest has 27 grazing allotments with 96 percent of those in violation.
Birders are especially upset that uncontrolled grazing is damaging riparian habitat.
Our national forests are vital to hundreds of imperiled songbirds that breed and raise their young on national forest land. Pat Jackson, who coordinates litigation for the agency's Southwestern Region in Albuquerque, said he could not comment on specific allegations in the lawsuit. But he agreed the agency is not completely in compliance with the Endangered Species Act. The Forest Service is very serious about protecting threatened and endangered species. While environmentalists criticize the Forest Service for not doing enough to protect threatened and endangered species, cattle growers say the agency is doing too much, Jackson said.