Livestock Grazing/Endangered Species Act: Center for Biological Diversity Notice of Intent to Sue Bureau of Land Management for Alleged Violations
May 01, 2026
By:
Walter G. Wright
Category:
Arkansas Environmental, Energy, and Water Law
Arkansas Environmental, Energy, and Water Law
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The Center for Biological Diversity (“CBD”) has sent a March 25th document to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and United States Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) styled:
Sixty-Day Notice of Intent to Sue Pursuant to the Endangered Species Act and Administrative Procedure Act for Legal Violations within the Las Cienegas National Conservation Area (“NOI”)
The NOI alleges violations of the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”) related to livestock grazing in the Las Cienegas National Conservation Area (“Conservation Area”).
CBD alleges that its surveys have demonstrated critical habitat for imperiled species within the Conservation Area in a highly degraded state regardless of the mechanism by which they are supposedly protected. The organization further alleges that:
- The 2003 Resource Management Plan (“RMP”) for the Conservation Area is not being followed.
- Biological opinions currently in effect for the Conservation Area are based on false assumptions regarding the RMP and grazing permit compliance.
- The RMP’s assumption that cattle are effectively excluded from significant stretches of riparian critical habitat within the Conservation Area is demonstrably false.
Therefore, CBD alleges that Section 7(a)(2) of the ESA is being violated, which requires that all federal agencies, in consultation with FWS, “insure” that their actions will not jeopardize the continued existence of endangered or threatened species or adversely modify their critical habitat.
The NOI lists a number of listed species that it alleges are being affected.
A copy of the NOI can be found here.
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