Sheep Industry News March 2022

MIWWWinners

Winners at the Make It With Wool Banquet and Fashion Show included: Maria Olsson of Wis. as the fashion/apparel design winner; Marissa Sanchez of California as the junior ambassador; Whitney Black of Utah as the senior ambassador; and Kim Vogley of Washington as the adult ambassador.

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT Continued from Page 18

tact Model as a reliable tool to in assessing the risk of possible disease transmission between domestic sheep and bighorn sheep on national forests throughout the West. As many in the industry know, the Risk of Contract Model has been used as a sword by special interest groups in other cases, which has resulted in the loss of livestock allotments for domestic sheep grazing – as was the case in Idaho’s Payette National Forest. Of significance, the environmental groups argued that the public interest weighed sharply in favor of protecting big horn sheep. The court, however, weighed the relative public interests, and held,

"there is also intrinsic public interest in al lowing a community-oriented business to operate most effectively so as to continue to provide employment opportunities, including for minority communities, as well as educational and research support to state universities. These corollary benefits of economic sustainability benefit the local and regional communities. In consider ing these competing public interests, the balance does not tip so strongly in favor of one party over the other." WRLC continues to represent Marti nez Livestock as the lawsuit moves to oral argument, which is expected in the fall of this year.

28 • Sheep Industry News • sheepusa.org The Martinez Livestock litigation is far from over and continues the longstanding debate about the utility of the Risk of Con defendant – the US Forest Service – in its briefing stated, "A ROC (Risk of Contact) model is a quantitative means of assessing the probability of a foraying bighorn ram or ewe contacting an active domestic sheep grazing allotment. The ROC model does not evaluate the risk of disease transmis sion …" rather, it is "a starting point for quantifying one element that may influ ence bighorn viability."