[PCA] ARTICLE: BLM failing to protect endangered plant from grazing — lawsuit

[Park, Margaret E]

Scott Streater, E&E News, October 7, 2021

Summary:
Environmental groups are suing the Bureau of Land Management for failing to protect an endangered plant from being trampled by grazing livestock inside Arizona's San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area.
The lawsuit<http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/plants/Huachuca_water_umbel/pdfs/San_Pedro_RNCA_water_umbel_lawsuit_100621.pdf>, filed yesterday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, claims BLM is violating the Endangered Species Act by not using its designated authority as manager of the San Pedro Riparian NCA to conserve the Huachuca water umbel, described in the lawsuit as "a highly endangered plant species."
The San Pedro Riparian NCA "is home to the largest remaining population" of the semiaquatic plant, as well as "the majority of its designated critical habitat," according to the complaint filed by the Center for Biological Diversity and the Maricopa Audubon Society.
But the critical habitat for the plant "is regularly subject to depredations by trespass cattle, which enter the area through a dilapidated boundary fence that BLM has failed to maintain in working order," the complaint says. "Because BLM fails to conserve the Umbel by protecting the species and its habitat from trespass cattle, which is a significant threat to the survival and recovery of the species, BLM is in ongoing violation of the ESA."

Link to article: https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eenews/2021/10/07/lawsuit-blm-failing-to-protect-endangered-plant-from-grazing-281705
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