Two environmental groups sued the Bureau of Land Management and the Fish and Wildlife Service on Thursday for failing to shield three federally protected species from livestock grazing activity along the Big Sandy River in western Arizona.
The Center for Biological Diversity and the Maricopa Audubon Society assert in the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona that visits to three federal grazing allotments in 2023 and earlier this year found cattle damaging designated critical habitat.
The complaint contends the grazing threatens the survival of the Southwestern willow flycatcher, which is endangered, as well as the northern Mexican garter snake and the western yellow-billed cuckoo, both of which are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
“The riparian forests, the river that they adjoin and protect, and the wildlife that use these habitats … have been damaged, degraded, and destroyed by livestock grazing authorized, managed, and allowed by BLM, despite documentation of that damage provided by the Plaintiffs,” the complaint says.
