A federal judge has upheld protections for the endangered Mexican spotted owl in four Western states, denying a legal challenge from Arizona cattle ranchers.
U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton ruled in Phoenix this week that 8.6 million acres of federal land in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah qualified as “critical habitat” for the owl.
Bolton dismissed claims by the Arizona Cattle Growers’ Association that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service failed to use the best science or account for economic concerns when designating the land as critical habitat.
Additionally, Bolton rejected arguments that the agency needed to establish a population goal before designating critical habitat.
The decision means that federal officials will need to consider impacts to the owl population before permitting any potential disturbances on federal land, but it will not affect activities on private lands.
“Critical habitat is not a set-aside,” said Matt Kenna, a Durango-based attorney with the Western Environmental Law Center who represented the Center for Biological Diversity in the case.
“It’s not like this is a preserved area where nothing can occur,” he said.
Although logging is considered the biggest threat to the owl, livestock grazing can diminish the grasses sought by prey animals such as mice and voles.
C.B. “Doc” Lane, the executive vice president of the 2,000-member cattle-growers association, said that the ruling simply adds another expensive and time-consuming layer of bureaucracy to acquiring grazing permits.
“It’s just another regulatory burden,” he said. “The impact to the people is fairly substantial.”
Steve Lipsher: 970-513-9495 or slipsher@denverpost.com
