More than three-quarters of the Oregon spotted frog habitat has been lost on the Fremont-Winema National Forest. Photo © William P. Leonard
Cattle grazing accounts for the most widespread abuse of public land in the American West, with millions of acres of public land dedicated to running cows. While many of the worst sins of public land mismanagement in the post World War II period—such as old-growth clear-cutting—have been lessened following decades of citizen outcry and environmental litigation, the number of cattle grazed on public lands in the West has remained virtually unchanged since the 1950s.
Amazingly, the Forest Service’s environmental analysis of grazing is less than what was required in the 1950s, even as the cumulative amount of damage done to streams and sensitive grasslands has increased.
Since the late 1990s Congress has, without debate, passed legislative “riders” that allow authorization of millions of head of cattle on your National Forests with no environmental analysis at all.
The damage wrought to rangelands from cattle grazing is extraordinary, if difficult for much of the public to observe or interpret. Here are some of its most egregious effects:
Cattle remove riparian vegetation and trample stream banks, widening and warming stream channels and imperiling hundreds of endangered fish runs.
Cows facilitate the spread of invasive species that take over native plant communities.
Cows consume grass—the fine fuel that would normally carry regular fires that maintain grasslands.
Without fire, shrubs and trees encroach on sites previously dominated by grasses.
Entire landscapes have been transformed by cattle and these areas will never recover their former biodiversity until cattle are removed.
Streams and the water they carry are the lifeblood of the American West. For example, more than two thirds of all native plant species in eastern Oregon depend on riparian areas. In many places in eastern Oregon, more than 100 plant species can be found on a single gravel bar less than half the length of a football field.
Most of western National Forests are dry, with only 2% of their landscape dotted with rivers and streams. Approximately 90 million acres of the 193 million acres of National Forest lands are allotted for grazing, however, and more than 80% of the food consumed by cattle is concentrated along river and stream banks. This practice leaves these rare riparian areas decimated.
More riparian areas and stream miles are affected by livestock grazing than by any other type of land use.
One of the consequences of over-grazed riparian areas is degraded habitat for frogs. They may not be as charismatic or photogenic as spotted owls or grizzly bears, but frogs have been the cornerstones of ecological function in aquatic habitat for more than 180 million years (more than fifteen times as long as spotted owls have been a top predator in old growth ecosystems). They are a critical part of the web of life, controlling insect populations and providing food for myriad species of fish and birds.
Frog populations are in an accelerating state of decline not only in the American West but around the world, with hundreds of species disappearing before scientists can even document their existence. Because of their unique life history—they live in water and on land at different points in their life—they are vulnerable to a wide variety of threats, including habitat destruction, toxic chemicals, invasive species, climate change, predation, deadly fungi, and depletion of the ozone layer.
The Oregon spotted frog is one of the unique species at risk. Located from southern British Columbia south to the border of California and Oregon, its population has declined by about 80% over the last 50 years. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently found the spotted frog to be “warranted for listing on the endangered species list, but precluded because of other funding priorities”—agency speak for going extinct for lack of money to do the paperwork.
One population of the Oregon spotted frog inhabits Jack Creek on the Fremont-Winema National Forest sixty miles south of Bend. This is one of just twenty-nine remaining populations in the state of Oregon.
The three miles of Jack Creek where the frog is found are reserved for cattle grazing as part of the Antelope Allotment on the Fremont-Winema National Forest. Every year between June and September, the Forest Service allows hundreds of cow and calf pairs to graze along the stream for approximately $1.35 a month per cow.
The Fremont-Winema Forest Plan requires the Forest Service to exclude cattle from riparian areas if they harm sensitive species habitat. In 1998, monitoring of frog populations documented 316 frogs. By 2005, this number had dropped to 13. That same year, the Forest Service suspended study of spotted frogs. The official party line was that there was no more money to continue the monitoring, however, one can surmise that they did not want to continue documenting a species decline that would require them to take action.
In July 2004, a U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Species Assessment showed that livestock grazing directly or indirectly influenced fourteen of twenty-eight Oregon spotted frogs sites surveyed. The Assessment further stated:
“In 2001 and 2002, cattle congregated in the Oregon spotted frog habitat because nearly every other water source in the allotment went dry. Trampling by cattle and alterations in water quality, bank structure, and loss of protective vegetation compounded the impacts of the reductions of available habitat due to drought conditions on the Oregon spotted frog reproduction.”
In 2005, the Forest Service sent a letter to the Antelope Allotment cattle permit holder advising them that: “Recent monitoring data indicates a decline in Jack Creek frog populations” with a particular concern for “the degradation of water quality in certain reaches of the Jack Creek system, the impact of drought conditions on the meadows, and some of the contributing impacts from livestock.”
“Within this context,” District Ranger Fred Wahl said, “I’ve made the decision to modify the Antelope Allotment boundary to exclude the middle section of Jack Creek from the allotment” by building a fence. The fence would not have changed the currently permitted cattle numbers or season of use.
A month later the Antelope Allotment grazing permittees sent a letter to the Forest Service complaining about the decision to exclude grazing from the middle part of Jack Creek where spotted frog habitat is located. The Forest Service promptly dropped its plans to build a fence.
On March 11, 2008, FSEEE filed a lawsuit in federal court to compel the Forest Service to follow its own management plan and exclude cattle from sensitive riparian areas that the frog needs to survive in Jack Creek.
There are a number of other violations of law that FSEEE’s lawsuit challenges. The Fremont-Winema Forest Plan requires that no more than 5% of the stream banks in a stream exhibit degradation by livestock. Forest Service surveys show that more than 75% of the stream channel in Jack Creek showed altered bank conditions, resulting in a wider and shallower channel and warmer water, which reduces the number and diversity of species.
The Forest Plan also requires that the height of grasses can’t be grazed to less than four inches along the most erodible stream banks, in order to keep the stream bank intact. The Forest Service was unable to meet this standard in 65% of the sites that were recently measured, because the cattle had eaten the stream bank grasses down to levels so low that the banks collapsed.
Frogs are particularly susceptible to pollution in water, which they absorb through their porous skin. Jack Creek currently exceeds state of Oregon water quality standards for E. coli organisms. Although cow manure is the known cause of these high bacteria levels, the Forest Service has recently doubled the number of cows on the Jack Creek allotment.
There are hundreds of reasons to reform livestock grazing practices on our National Forests, from clean water to salmon to increased recreational opportunities. The dramatic decline of frogs is a warning that the time to take action to protect streams is now.
The precedent FSEEE sets at Jack Creek will help ensure that rivers, streams, and the creatures that inhabit them are protected from illegal livestock grazing throughout our National Forests.
We hope you can support our work to stop these damaging forest management practices. Our National Forests cannot afford further reductions in biodiversity or further elimination of plant and animal species. Your gift can help us make a difference!
P.S. You can make a donation to this project by clicking on “DONATE NOW!” in the upper left-hand column, then clicking on “Stop Destructive Grazing and Save a Rare, Sensitive Species.”
