The University of Idaho says it won't graze sheep this summer on three high-elevation areas in eastern Idaho and western Montana until a lawsuit filed by environmental groups concerning a federal sheep research facility is resolved.
Federal officials in documents filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court say the university in March notified the U.S. Department of Agriculture it wouldn't send sheep or sheepherders to the allotments this summer.
The lawsuit filed in 2014 contends that the U.S. Sheep Experiment Station near Dubois in eastern Idaho didn't follow federal environmental laws to determine the impacts of sheep grazing on grizzly bears, lynx, wolves, bighorn sheep and other animals.
The environmental groups say the area is a wildlife corridor between Yellowstone National Park and rugged lands in central Idaho.