Payette National Forest Draft EIS Released

PAYETTE NATIONAL FOREST RELEASES A DRAFT EIS AS RELATED TO BIGHORN SHEEP AND DOMESTIC SHEEP THAT OMITS COMMITMENTS MADE IN 1997 AND THAT OMITS ANALYSIS OF MANY CRITICAL ELEMENTS

By Alan Schroeder

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Weiser, Idaho. October 7, 2008. Is removing domestic sheep from the Payette National Forest (PNF) the answer to protecting bighorn sheep? The Forest Service says yes, but Ron Shirts of Shirts Brothers Sheep and Frank Shirts, Jr. — who are third generation domestic sheep operators that are permitted to graze on several domestic sheep allotments in the Payette National Forest — disagree.

The Forest Service released a Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) on September 18, 2008. The Forest Service proposes in its DEIS to eliminate domestic sheep grazing on all but 4 domestic sheep allotments within the PNF in an effort to protect the bighorns due to a claimed disease transmission problem between the bighorns and the domestic sheep.

The Forest Service’s proposal ignores the fact that the bighorns in Hells Canyon in Idaho were reintroduced only through a commitment that the domestic sheep operators would be held harmless from any disease transmission problem associated with the bighorn reintroduction.

Beyond the 1997 commitment, the Forest Service’s proposal is based upon a premise that certain pathogens (bugs) exist which bighorns and domestic sheep can share, and that if these bugs are transmitted between the two animals, the bugs may cause the death of the bighorns. However, there are several elements that are necessary to confirm this premise, including, but not limited to, the following: (1) The scientific research needs to document that disease transmission occurs between bighorns and domestic sheep; (2) he facts need to disclose that the bighorns themselves are free of the offending bugs; (3) The facts need to disclose that the domestic sheep upon the allotments are carriers of the offending bugs. The Forest Service ignores any discussion in its DEIS of these elements in an apparent effort to advocate for the objective to separate the bighorns and domestic sheep and to eliminate domestic sheep allotments on the PNF.

Comments should be submitted before January 2, 2009, asking the Forest Service to redo its DEIS and to maintain the existing domestic sheep allotments on the PNF. In so asking, you will not be advocating for or against bighorns or for or against domestic sheep. Instead, you will be advocating for an objective analysis of bighorn and domestic sheep interaction and for ratification of the commitments made in 1997.