Contractors working with the Coconino, Prescott and Tonto National Forests removed over 50 feral, or free-roaming, cows from the streamside habitat of the Verde River in a complex operation before Thanksgiving.
The roundup focused on the stretch of river between Verde Hot Springs and Fossil Creek, south of Camp Verde, a stretch of the river that’s part of the “Wild and Scenic” portion of the Verde under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.
It’s an area where the Center for Biological Diversity said it found a concentration of “significant” impacts from unauthorized cattle grazing during surveys last year.
Brady Smith, public affairs officer for Coconino National Forest, said there are still some bulls in the roundup area that contractors will need to return for at a later date.
Cows are not authorized to graze the Verde River on public lands, due to the damage they can do to native vegetation and water quality. Additionally, boaters floating this section of the Verde River have reported cows that “stampede and charge individuals and groups of boaters,” according to a Prescott National Forest release.
The USFS contractors worked for a week on the roundup, which involved a “helicopter, roping, leading or tie down when necessary,” a press release stated before the operation. The release added that “The work will be accomplished in a safe and humane manner” and in accordance with state law.
Smith said that the captured cows were taken to a stockyard in the Chino Valley, “where the brand inspector examined them for brands and other identifying marks, [such as] ear tags or ear notches, that would identify them for returning to their owners. If not identified and returned, at some point the animals are sold to the public.”
Smith noted that feral livestock belong to the state of Arizona.
The roundup comes in the wake of a September lawsuit filed by the Center for Biological Diversity and the Maricopa Audubon Society against the Coconino, Prescott and Tonto national forests alleging that the forests are failing to exclude cattle from the Verde River.
“My initial reaction is, ‘great job, what took so long?’” said Joe Trudeau, conservation advocate for the Center for Biological Diversity.
He added that the roundup is “just step one of the process,” claiming that “there’s a constant supply of cows trickling into these riparian areas” from grazing allotments in the national forests. Trudeau said that better maintenance of fencing and enforcement of grazing rules is needed to curb the problem of cows on the river.
