The supervisor of the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest has overturned part of a grazing plan to avoid damaging streams and streamside habitat.

The decision, which resulted from an appeal by the Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, means forest officials must now revise a grazing plan that affects more than 62,000 acres of public lands in southeastern Wyoming and northern Colorado.

Authorized last spring, the plan, known as the Upper North Platte Analysis, would have permitted cattle grazing in streams and streamside habitats that are already suffering from drought, erosion and overgrazing, said a Biodiversity Conservation Alliance representative.

The analysis area is located on the Brush Creek/Hayden and Parks ranger districts of the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest, about 10 miles southeast of Encampment and 15 miles west of Cowdrey, Colo. The plan encompassed the Beaver Creek, Big Creek and Six Mile grazing allotments.

The alliance's Jeremy Nichols said he was both surprised and pleased with Forest Supervisor Mary Peterson's decision.

"You can have cows, but you've also got to protect the environment," Nichols said. What was at stake, he said, was a rare resource: riparian habitats.

According to the Forest Service, nearly 20 percent of all streamside (or riparian) habitats within the allotments - or more than 400 acres - are currently in "unsatisfactory" condition because of cattle.

According to the Forest Service, only 6 percent of the entire Medicine Bow National Forest is riparian habitat. However, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, more than 75 percent of all wildlife in southeastern Wyoming depend upon riparian areas.

"Riparian habitats are critically important to the health and sustainability of wildlife," Nichols said. "The degradation of even one acre of riparian habitat should be cause for concern, yet the Forest Service seemed willing to sacrifice this irreplaceable resource."

Peterson ruled that the Forest Service failed to analyze a reasonable range of alternatives - specifically with regard to a proposal to require permittees to hire full-time riders to keep cattle from lingering in riparian areas, maintain good distribution, and provide for timely removal from pastures when grazing targets are reached.

Forest spokeswoman Lynn Johnson said riparian areas were protected using such variables as shorter grazing periods, fewer heads of cattle, stock tanks to lure cattle away from streams, temporary fencing and range riders.

Jim Magagna, executive vice president of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, said it can be costly to hire a range rider, which averages $1,500 per month. Magagna said ranchers have good results protecting riparian areas, using a combination of water development projects and temporary fencing.

He warned that the use of range riders is not a panacea, noting that driving cattle to and from a riparian area could be more damaging than leaving the cattle alone.

Nichols said it is unusual to have a forest supervisor overturn an internal plan, based on an appeal by a conservation group.

"This appeal decision is a crucial victory for wildlife and watersheds on the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest," Nichols said. "It also underscores the need for citizen scrutiny of public lands management. If we hadn't appealed this harmful plan, watershed health and wildlife habitat would have been placed at great risk."

The appeal decision does not prohibit domestic livestock grazing. Current permittees continue their grazing operations under the old grazing plan.