Duck Creek Livestock Grazing

February 17, 2021 – Advocates for the West filed our opening brief with the 10th Circuit Court requesting a reversal of the district court’s erroneous dismissal for lack of Article III standing. Our brief argues that the Court should hold a 2017 decision of the Interior Board of Land Appeals as unlawful and force the defendants to correct their violations of NEPA and other legal requirements in authorizing livestock grazing on the Duck Creek Allotment in Utah.

February 10, 2020 – Advocates for the West filed our opening brief in this case.

April 29, 2019 – Defendants DOI and IBLA filed a motion to dismiss or transfer venue, arguing that this case should be heard in Utah rather than Idaho federal court. Advocates for the West opposed the motion, demonstrating that client Western Watersheds Project is within its right to bring the case in Idaho, where the group is headquartered, for a number of reasons. Most importantly, the implications of the agency decision to authorize grazing on the Duck Creek allotment is not a “localized controversy” only affecting Utah. It poses west-wide impacts to sensitive species and the WWP members who care about protecting such imperiled species as sage-grouse, pronghorn, and others.

January 29, 2019 – Advocates for the West filed suit against the U.S. Department of Interior (DOI) and Interior Board of Land Appeals (IBLA), challenging the decision to continue unlawful authorization of ecologically destructive livestock grazing on the Duck Creek allotment in Utah. The allotment historically provided vital habitat for many iconic wildlife species including greater sage-grouse, elk, pronghorn antelope and mule deer.

We are working with attorney Megan Backsen on this case.