Feds ask judge to split up huge grazing lawsuit

BOISE – The federal government is asking a judge to break apart a sweeping lawsuit that accuses federal land managers of putting grazing and energy interests ahead of preserving sage grouse across millions of acres of public land in six Western states.

The lawsuit, filed last year, challenges 16 land use plans developed by the Bureau of Land Management to manage 25 million acres in Montana, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming and California.

The Idaho-based Western Watersheds Project contends the BLM violated federal environmental laws, as well as its own policies, in writing those plans.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Deborah Ferguson, representing the BLM, wants U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill to split the case so it can be argued separately in federal courthouses in each of the six states. Keeping the case in Boise and wrapped in one legal challenge ignores the unique nature of each 20-year management plan and the local involvement that went into crafting them, she said.

Laird Lucas, a lawyer for Western Watersheds, said the case should remain consolidated because it’s based on the same common legal thread.