Federal judge blocks livestock grazing in Oregon’s sage grouse research areas

A federal judge in Portland ruled the Bureau of Land Management must work to keep livestock out of key sage grouse research areas in Oregon, after finding its 2025 land use plan violated multiple environmental laws. The plan had shrunk protected research acreage from about 22,000 acres to roughly 3,700, prompting a lawsuit from the Oregon Natural Desert Association, which had already won a 2022 order over the agency's earlier delays.

Judge Michael Simon found BLM failed to explain changes to key definitions used in the plan, denied meaningful public comment on those changes, and shifted its position on minimum acreage needed for research without justification, violating the National Environmental Policy Act and the Administrative Procedure Act. He also found the agency mismanaged wilderness study areas in a way that could impair their protected status.

Rather than vacate the plan outright, Simon ordered BLM to reopen public comment and better justify its changes, while requiring the agency to make its best effort to keep livestock off the 2015 closure areas and conduct compliance checks. He rejected the conservation group's request for a hard 2027 deadline for full closures, opting for a narrower fix instead.

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