Keep livestock out of Wilderness in the Sonoran Desert National Monument

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is accepting public comments on its Sonoran Desert National Monument Livestock Grazing Draft Resource Management Plan Amendment/Environmental Assessment covering 252,460 acres of federal public land in Arizona. This national monument land north of Interstate 8 includes 63,600 acres of the North Maricopa Mountains Wilderness and 60,800 acres of the South Maricopa Mountains Wilderness.

These Wilderness areas are home to desert bighorn sheep, desert tortoises, coyotes, bobcats, foxes, deer, Gambel's quails, and other wildlife. Their two major vegetation communities are palo verde-mixed cacti, which includes dense "forests" of saguaro cactus, palo verde, and ironwood trees, and the creosote-bursage community that covers low elevation valley floors in seemingly unbroken expanses.

Portions of the Beloat, Big Horn, Hazen, and Conley livestock grazing allotments are within the North Maricopa Mountains Wilderness, and portions of the Big Horn, Conley, and Lower Vekol allotments are within the South Maricopa Mountains Wilderness.

Please raise your voice by June 10 and urge the BLM to select Alternative C, the No Grazing Alternative, which would end damaging livestock grazing in the North and South Maricopa Mountains Wildernesses. 

When the Sonoran Desert National Monument was designated by Presidential Proclamation in 2001, it stated that "[l]aws, regulations, and polices followed by the BLM in issuing and administering grazing permits or leases on all lands under its jurisdiction shall continue to apply with regard to the lands in the monument; provided, however, that grazing permits on federal lands within the monument south of Interstate 8 shall not be renewed at the end of their current term; and provided further, that grazing on federal lands north of Interstate 8 shall be allowed to continue only to the extent that the BLM determines that grazing is compatible with the paramount purpose of protecting the objects identified in this proclamation."

Incredibly, while the BLM admits that the north part of the national monument is marginal for livestock grazing, it still proposes livestock grazing across the entire area, including within the North and South Maricopa Mountains Wildernesses.

The agency’s own data reflect that areas near water are generally overgrazed, and the agency also maintains that cattle don't graze far from water. In a catch-22, BLM is willing to sacrifice the areas near water where cattle do graze because areas far from water, where no grazing would likely take place, are in in good condition. What BLM's data shows, in essence, is that grazing is incompatible with the national monument objectives because the places near water have been harmed by cattle.

Furthermore, BLM also claims impacts from cattle grazing would be negative but negligible in Wilderness, largely because the agency expects cattle to congregate near water, concentrating damage there and not ranging deep into the Wilderness. However, allowing sensitive areas near water to become sacrifice areas directly conflicts with the national monument’s proclamation, harms wildlife that need these desert waters, and degrades the area’s wild character.

Please speak up for Wilderness and wildlife in the Sonoran Desert National Monument by June 10 by urging the BLM to select Alternative C, the No Grazing Alternative, which would end damaging livestock grazing in the North and South Maricopa Mountains Wildernesses.