The Forest Service and National Wildlife Federation have reached an out-of-court settlement in a lawsuit alleging overgrazing on the Humboldt National Forest in Elko County.
The agreement has been approved by the legal arm of the Nevada Cattlemen's Association, the Nevada Land Action Association, and now must be approved by a Reno federal judge."We have worked hard and long to try and restore streams on our Nevada public lands," said Gale Dupree of Reno, president of the Nevada Wildlife Federation. "But certain streams have been hammered by overgrazing, and this agreement should stop that."
Under the settlement, the Forest Service agreed to conduct site-specific studies of all livestock allotments on Lahontan cutthroat trout habitat, and on elk calving and sage grouse strutting grounds.
The wildlife federation sued the Forest Service in March in Reno federal court, claiming the agency had failed to strictly enforce new livestock grazing standards.