A federal judge on Wednesday shut down U.S. Forest Service plans to expand livestock grazing on allotments in grizzly bear habitat in Montana’s Paradise Valley, near Yellowstone National Park.

Donald Molloy, the district judge for the U.S. District Court, District of Montana, remanded the matter back to the Forest Service, ordering the agency to prepare a new analysis.

The Forest Service previously failed to properly analyze the effects that expanded grazing on six allotments would have on grizzlies. Therefore, the agency’s initial analysis failed to meet the standards of the National Environmental Policy Act.

Mingling Grizzly Populations

The grazing allotments in question are north of Yellowstone, in the Absaroka Mountains.

Bear advocates say that’s a key area for the intermingling o

See Full Page