The Center for Biological Diversity and the Maricopa Audubon Society sued the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the Fish and Wildlife Service today over what they call “chronic unauthorized cattle grazing” in the Agua Fria National Monument north of Phoenix.
The lawsuit alleges that federal agencies have failed to protect the critical habitat of the endangered Gila chub and the threatened Western yellow-billed cuckoo.
The environmental groups initially protested grazing in the monument in 2020 when the BLM issued a 10-year renewal of the Horseshoe Grazing Allotment. The Center for Biological Diversity says following a lawsuit in 2022, the BLM promised a new consultation under the Endangered Species Act but did not complete it.
The BLM’s website calls the Horseshoe Grazing Allotment a success story, saying the monument has supported cattle grazing alongside wildlife habitat for almost a century.