ASI to Comment on Grazing in the Payette

November 7, 2008 - The executive board of the American Sheep Industry Association (ASI) approved resources for the association to comment on the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) issued by the U.S. Forest Service (FS) in regard to grazing in the Payette National Forest.

The FS released the SEIS on Sept. 18, 2008, in which it proposes to eliminate domestic sheep grazing on all but four domestic sheep allotments within the Payette Forest. This equates to two-thirds of all domestic sheep grazing in the forest, putting at least four permittees out of business. The SEIS contends that bighorn sheep need protection due to an alleged disease transmission problem between the bighorns and the domestic sheep.

With the involvement of the ASI taskforce on the bighorn controversy, the executive board believes it is important to comment and because of the comprehensive nature of these comments, ASI will be retaining a firm to meet the submission deadlines.

The comment deadline is Jan. 2, 2009.
Staff contact: Peter Orwick, ext. 33

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