The Center for Biological Diversity and Maricopa Bird Alliance are suing the Bureau of Land Management and the Fish and Wildlife Service over the impacts of cattle grazing in southern Arizona's Las Cienegas National Conservation Area.
The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Tucson, Arizona, asks a judge to order the agencies to reassess grazing's impact on protected species in the 42,000-acre conservation area. It alleges that broken and missing exclosure fences have allowed cattle into off-limits riparian areas, damaging habitat for species including the Chiricahua leopard frog, yellow-billed cuckoo, northern Mexican gartersnake and Gila chub.
“Field surveys by center biologists in 2025 found cattle damage along 78% of critical habitat stream miles in the conservation area,” the center’s press release says. “Those surveys also documented damage along streams where cows are explicitly prohibited because of the harm they pose to sensitive habitat.”
Congress established Las Cienegas in Southern Arizona in 2000, stipulating in the original act that livestock grazing could occur in "appropriate areas" of the conservation area. A management plan prepared by BLM in 2003 prohibits grazing on 3,919 acres of land within the conservation area, the lawsuit says.
The groups want the court to order the agencies to consult on the grazing under the Endangered Species Act and take certain actions to protect the conservation area from grazing.
