FRESNO, Calif.— The Center for Biological Diversity today notified the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that it intends to sue the agencies for failing to protect imperiled Yosemite toads and Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frogs from damaging livestock grazing in the Sierra National Forest.
“We’re launching this lawsuit to push the Forest Service to live up to its own commitments,” said Tara Zuardo, a senior advocate at the Center. “These rare frogs and toads are barely hanging on, yet the Forest Service is allowing cattle to trample the very streams and mountain meadows they need to survive.”
Today’s notice challenges the agencies’ continued authorization of cattle grazing on six grazing allotments in the national forest. These public lands contain habitat occupied by Yosemite toads and Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frogs, who are protected under the Endangered Species Act, as well as extensive areas of federally designated critical habitat for the amphibians.
Center surveys in 2024 and 2025 documented livestock entering sensitive wet meadows and breeding habitat, damaged and missing fences, heavily trampled streambanks and meadows, exposed and compacted soils, loss of vegetation, erosion and other damage. The notice also challenges the Forest Service’s failure to carry out basic monitoring required to ensure that grazing does not harm protected amphibians.
The endangered Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frog has declined by an estimated 90% to 95% from historic population levels across the Sierra Nevada, while the threatened Yosemite toad has declined by roughly 50% or more. Both species depend on fragile aquatic habitats, including streams, ponds, wetlands and high-elevation meadows for breeding, feeding, shelter and survival.
Livestock grazing can severely damage those habitats. Livestock can trample eggs, tadpoles and juvenile amphibians, collapse stream banks, destroy shallow breeding pools, flatten wet meadows, remove protective vegetation, increase erosion and sedimentation, and contaminate streams and ponds.
Federal wildlife officials previously concluded that grazing on these public lands would not jeopardize the amphibians or harm their critical habitat. But those conclusions depended on the Forest Service implementing grazing restrictions, conservation measures, monitoring programs and site-specific protections. Yet grazing standards have routinely been violated, cattle have entered wet meadows and other areas that should be protected from livestock and required monitoring and reporting are missing.
The Endangered Species Act requires federal agencies to consult with the Fish and Wildlife Service when new information shows that their actions may be harming protected species. Despite this requirement, the Forest Service has continued authorizing damaging grazing without reinitiating consultation with the Fish and Wildlife Service.
The Center’s notice calls on the agencies to immediately reinitiate and complete Endangered Species Act consultation for grazing on all six allotments. It also calls for livestock to be removed from the allotments while consultation is underway to prevent additional harm to protected amphibians and their critical habitat.
“For years these agencies have made false promises that livestock would be kept out of the places these imperiled animals need to survive and that grazing would be carefully monitored,” said Zuardo. “When fences are down and cattle aren’t being monitored, they trample protected meadows. Federal officials need to follow the law and stop letting livestock damage the places that struggling wildlife call home.”
If the Forest Service and Fish and Wildlife Service fail to protect these imperiled animals, the Center intends to file a federal lawsuit after expiration of the Endangered Species Act’s 60-day notice period.
The Yosemite toad is native to the central Sierra Nevada and relies heavily on wet mountain meadows and shallow pools for breeding. Because these habitats are particularly vulnerable to trampling, soil compaction and hydrologic changes, federal grazing standards require livestock to be excluded from standing water and saturated soils in occupied Yosemite toad habitat during breeding and rearing periods. The Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frog inhabits high-elevation lakes, ponds, streams and wetlands in the Sierra Nevada.
