The U.S. Forest Service is being sued for allowing cattle to move into Valles Caldera National Preserve. This photo reportedly showing trespass cattle was taken in May 2024/Western Watersheds Project

A lawsuit was filed Tuesday against the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over cattle that leave forest lands to enter Valles Caldera National Preserve in northern New Mexico. Brought by three environmental groups, the lawsuit alleges the agencies violated the Endangered Species Act by allowing livestock to illegally graze in the preserve.

The lawsuit (attached below) was brought by WildEarth Guardians, Western Watersheds Project, and Caldera Action. It follows what they contend were years of inaction by the Forest Service to prevent livestock authorized to graze on adjacent Forest Service lands from illegally entering the preserve. 

Cattle have entered the preserve from neighboring Forest Service grazing allotments, damaging fish and wildlife habitat, water sources, and posing a risk to visitors to the preserve for more than a decade, the groups maintain. Habitat for the endangered Jemez Mountain salamander, New Mexico meadow jumping mouse, and the threatened Mexican spotted owl have been damaged by the trespassing livestock, putting these species in jeopardy of extinction, they add.

“This has been going on too long and the impacts are getting worse. People who care about the Caldera are frustrated, especially when they see dozens of cattle wallowing in riparian areas and fens — fragile ecosystems that are supposed to be protected,” said Andrew Rothman, Wild Places program director for WildEarth Guardians. “The Forest Service authorizes livestock grazing even when they know it leads to trespass on the neighboring preserve and is pushing threatened and endangered species to the brink of extinction in the Caldera.”

There have been longstanding problems with cattle trespassing on the preserve in northern New Mexico. Late last year conservation groups expressed their frustation over the matter and indicated they would sue the Park Service to solve the problem.

Preserve Superintendent Jorge Siva-Bañuelos has acknowledged the problem, telling the Traveler two years ago that the Park Service "has allocated about $350,000 to replace sections of the boundary fence between the Santa Fe National Forest and Valles Caldera National Preserve."

Earlier this year the Park Service advertised for "horse-mounted, trespass cattle wrangling services" at the preserve during the 2024 summer and fall seasons. This is one of the efforts the park is pursuing to reduce impacts to park resources from cattle trespassing from adjacent Forest Service grazing allotments. The park was seeking wrangler services for a minimum of one day per week or two days every other week from May 20 through November 8 to round up trespass cattle loose within the park, herd them into designated corrals within the park, and to notify park law enforcement once trespass cattle are corralled.

According to WildEarth Guardians, Western Watersheds Project, and Caldera Action, more than 850 trespass cattle were observed on the preserve last year. They maintain the Forest Service is to blame because it "failed to ensure fences were functional and sufficient to prevent trespass."

“We have asked the Forest Service and the Park Service to do something about these trespassing cows for nearly ten years,” said Tom Ribe, executive director of Caldera Action, a nonprofit focused on the Jemez Mountains. “The Park Service took action after our first Notice of Intent to Sue in 2022. While we appreciate that, it isn’t enough — we need the Forest Service to take responsibility for the cattle that are from their grazing program. They need to keep those cattle on Forest Service lands according to their agreements with the ranchers.” 

After the Park Service documented natural resource damage in the preserve caused by livestock coming from Forest Service allotments, the Forest Service failed to make changes to its grazing authorizations, the three groups allege. Neither the Forest Service nor the Fish and Wildlife Service reinitiated consultation — a requirement under the Endangered Species Act — to analyze if and how trespass livestock grazing is harming threatened and endangered species, they said.

“When livestock run out of grass on the authorized allotments, they will find food elsewhere, and a poorly maintained or cut barbed wire fence won’t stop them from finding that food,” said Cyndi Tuell, Arizona and New Mexico director of Western Watersheds Project. “The Forest Service is responsible for putting these cows on the land. They need to be held accountable for their poor management decisions and refusal to enforce their own rules. When we have species so close to extinction like the Jemez Mountain salamander we need swift action, not agency foot-dragging. If they would simply do their job, we wouldn’t have to sue them.”