This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2005, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Two southern Utah counties have filed a lawsuit contesting grazing closures in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.
Garfield and Kane counties argue that, since 1999, the Bureau of Land Management has permanently discontinued livestock grazing on over 240,000 acres in the monument without notifying Congress, as required by the Federal Lands and Policy Act. Such closures have put pressures on individual ranchers, and on the economies of both counties, the suit said.
The complaint asks that the court require the BLM adhere to the law's requirements and seeks an injunction that would prevent the agency from eliminating livestock grazing in the monument prior to notifying Congress.
