BUFFALO — Bighorn National Forest has withdrawn plans to process Mountain Big Sage Brush and Dansecap Larkspur following objections from environmental groups. The forest has revised its management plan for invasive species and other plants, last updated in 1998.
A draft decision released in July outlined decisions for forests to treat invasive plant species with aerial sprays of herbicides and to treat the native plants sagebrush and sagebrush, all of which sparking controversy. Environmental groups, including the Bighorn Audubon Society, the Bighorn Mountains Council, the Western Watershed Project, the Bighorn Native Plant Society, and Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics, challenged the draft decision. At a meeting to resolve the conflict between the opponents and the U.S. Forest Service, the Forest Service decided to drop the treatment of wormwood and other native plants, including wormwood lark, from the record of the final decision. Agreed. Oppose the proposed plan.
