The Trump Administration is seeking to overhaul the Bureau of Land Management's grazing program under a proposed rule that will be published in the Federal Register Tuesday.
The proposal would change how land health is assessed, allow targeted grazing to address wildfire risk, and allow flexible terms and conditions to allow operators to adjust grazing practices “without separate approval by the BLM." It would also replace the term “sons and daughters” with “beginning ranchers” to expand allowances meant to encourage young producers to participate in public grazing. In addition, it would pause BLM decisions if an appeal is filed.
BLM regulates grazing on around 155 million acres of federal land. Overall, the agency administers nearly 18,000 grazing permits that authorize some 12.3 million animal unit months of grazing each year, according to the proposal. An animal unit month is one month's usage and occupancy of a range by one cow and her calf, according to the Congressional Research Service.
The proposed rule comes as President Donald Trump prepares to sign executive orders aimed at addressing "short-term supply issues in the U.S. beef market by expanding imports” and supporting “the renewal of America’s domestic cattle herd, which is currently at a multi-decade low.”
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The proposed rule would also move rangeland health standards to a new section of the regulations to expand their application “beyond livestock grazing administration” and instead reflect “that all BLM programs should be responsible for managing toward improved rangeland health.”
"It will allow the BLM to more effectively understand the impacts of land management on the whole landscape — which will, in turn, benefit all BLM-managed lands and public lands users,” the proposal says, adding that it "would require BLM “to take ‘appropriate action’ where a significant factor in failing to achieve land health is within the BLM’s control to address, much as the existing rule does when that factor is livestock grazing.”
Additionally, “rapid landscape-scale condition assessments and land health evaluations” will inform "how uses are managed, rather than dictate whether a particular use may occur, and what constitutes 'appropriate action' may vary depending on the resource concern and limitations imposed by law and relevant planning decisions,” it says.
The proposed rule also says that grazing authorizations should be issued “only for production-oriented livestock,” which it claims "can be broadly understood to anticipate that livestock grazing would be in support of resource consumption.” BLM on Friday revoked grazing permits for 63,000 acres of Montana land used by nonprofit American Prairie for grazing land, arguing that the organization manages bison for conservation purposes, rather than for production.
Separately, BLM also will issue a final rule tomorrow that officially rescinds a Biden-era rule allowing conservation leases on BLM land.
Last fall, USDA issued a 13-page beef herd expansion plan, which called for opening up 24 million acres of unused grazing allotments on Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management lands, or around 10% of the 29,000 grazing allotments used nationwide. It also called for the creation of a “unified permitting framework” to streamline permitting, as well as “outcome-based grazing agreements” that “tailor stocking rates and timing to local conditions."
Editor's note: This story will continue to be updated with additional information.
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