Court Gives Federal Agencies Six Month Deadline to Move Ahead With New Environmental Study of Jackson Bison and Elk Management, Reports The Fund for Animals

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Court Gives Federal Agencies Six Month Deadline to Move Ahead With New

Environmental Study of Jackson Bison and Elk Management,

Reports The Fund for Animals

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TO NATIONAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS:

Court Gives Federal Agencies Six Month Deadline to Move Ahead With New

Environmental Study of Jackson Bison and Elk Management,

Reports The Fund for Animals

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, WASHINGTON, Mar. 30 -/E-Wire/-- Judge Ricardo Urbina of the U.S. District Court has denied the federal government's and the State of Wyoming's bid to dismiss the 1998 lawsuit filed by The Fund for Animals challenging the federal government's failure to study the environmental effects of ongoing bison and elk management actions in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Judge Urbina also ordered the government to submit a plan to the court outlining how the defendants propose to fully comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) within the next six months.

Federal defendants, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, and the U.S. Forest Service, along with the state of Wyoming, an intervenor in the case, argued that their decision to prepare a new management plan rendered the case moot. Judge Urbina disagreed, stating in his March 9, 2001 opinion that "given the federal defendants' history of non- compliance with NEPA" they had failed to "persuade the court that agency actions significantly impacting the environment will not recur."

In October 1998, the court had enjoined the federal defendants from killing bison or allowing bison to be killed pursuant to the 1996 management plan until the federal defendants had complied with NEPA. The court also ordered the defendants to prepare a new environmental study analyzing the effects of both the bison and elk supplemental feeding programs. The court noted that nearly two-and-a-half years have passed and such compliance has yet to occur.

According to Andrea Lococo, Rocky Mountain coordinator of The Fund for Animals, "We are pleased that the court is retaining jurisdiction over this matter and taking steps to ensure that the federal agencies prepare a comprehensive environmental analysis of the impacts of the supplemental feeding program and other pertinent management actions on bison, elk, and other wildlife in the Jackson Hole area. The court has made it clear that merely suspending illegal activity does not satisfy the legal requirements of NEPA."

For a copy of the court's March 9, 2001 order and opinion, please contact The Fund for Animals at [REDACTED-PHONE], ext. 216.

Andrea Lococo of The Fund for Animals, [REDACTED-PHONE]; or

Jonathan Lovvorn of Meyer & Glitzenstein, [REDACTED-PHONE]

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