Attorneys for the state of Montana have asked the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a district court’s ruling that allowed American Prairie’s bison to stay on public lands after the BLM cancelled their grazing permits.
The state claims that federal grazing permits are limited to domestic livestock raised for production according to a report by KRTV News, an excuse manufactured by ranching interests who see the arrangement as a threat to their hegemony.
They’re also backing a plan by the BLM to insert “production-oriented livestock” into the grazing regulations in an attempt to preclude the use of grazing allotments for conservation purposes, such as wild horse preserves.
The proposal now stands on shaky ground.
An attorney for American Prairie stated in a September 4 news release that “The court’s ruling recognizes what American Prairie has argued from the beginning, that the Taylor Grazing Act does not require a grazing operation to focus exclusively on production and ignore conservation or restoration.”
PREVIOUS: Montana PBS Looks at American Prairie Grazing Controversy.
► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.
