For immediate release: April 2, 2026
Media contacts:
- Megan Backsen, Western Watersheds Project, megan@westernwatersheds.org; 719-207-2493
- Greg LeDonne, Western Watersheds Project, greg@westernwatersheds.org; 208-779-2079
Conservation Group Launches Investigation of Forest Service Livestock Program
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Western Watersheds Project filed a lawsuit today seeking public documents from the U.S. Forest Service under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The lawsuit points to five long-overdue requests for information about public lands livestock grazing in Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Nevada as evidence that the agency is engaging in a pattern and practice of repeatedly ignoring FOIA’s mandatory deadlines for issuing final decisions and failing to disclose time-sensitive information that should rightly be available to the public.
“The agencies are not allowed to create conditions that make compliance with the law impossible, but that’s exactly where we’ve landed. The Trump Administration has systematically starved the agencies, reduced staff and then utterly failed to meet mandatory deadlines,” said Megan Backsen, attorney for Western Watersheds Project. “The result is that the public cannot access basic information about what’s happening on public lands, undermining transparency and oversight of shared resources. When agencies fail to comply with the law, litigation becomes the only recourse.”
Livestock grazing is the most widespread commercial use of public lands, and causes extensive ecological damage yet the Trump administration has increasingly made livestock management decisions without full environmental reviews. Originally, livestock grazing leases were given a full environmental review every 10 years, with full public participation. Environmental compliance and public participation have steadily eroded over the past decade, as federal land managers have increasingly taken advantage of legal loopholes to bypass environmental analysis, particularly on problem grazing allotments.FOIA requests are often the only way to learn about management decisions and monitoring on grazing allotments.
“Our requests seek basic information on subjects like livestock grazing in national forests and the management of rare species, all of which should be readily available to the public,” said Greg LeDonne, Western Watershed Project’s Idaho Director. “Without the Forest Service making this information freely accessible or providing it in a timely manner in response to a request, it can become impossible to know what is happening on public lands or to respond to inquiries from private citizens concerned about whether conduct they see is authorized.”
FOIA requires that agencies make public records “promptly available” within or shortly after the statutory 20 business-day deadline, and allows only certain exemptions from this timeline. In each of the outstanding FOIA requests included in the lawsuit, the Forest Service has fallen short of this statutory deadline by months if not years.
“The Trump Administration has been ignoring its duties under FOIA while gutting the personnel tasked with responding to public inquiries, creating the crisis that necessitates court involvement,” said Megan Backsen, attorney with Western Watersheds Project
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