Public Lands Cattlemen Make an Impact on Capitol Hill

Leadership members of the Public Lands Council  flew to Washington, D.C.,  for a variety of meetings on federal land issues on Nov 13-15.  Coming all the way from Arizona, Montana, Oregon, and Wyoming, the 10 cattle producers darkened the doorways of agency officials and congressional staff to discuss movement on priority issues such as grazing permit renewal, National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) standards, and rangeland monitoring, assessment and inventory.

“One of the main reasons we're here is to discuss the National Range Assessment and see if we can get all the agencies working on the same page to develop a uniform protocol for monitoring and assessing the health of rangelands,” says K.L. Bliss, Montana cattle rancher and Public Lands Council president.  “We feel like we’re doing a good job managing the land, but we need more data and a better system in place to show that, and help show where we can improve.”

NCBA’s Washington staff arranged meetings for the Public Lands Council, NCBA and Society for Range Management to meet with agency staff at the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management, and USDA’s Forest Service, Agriculture Research Service and National Resource Conservation Service.

“Without the NCBA Washington office, we really would not have such great opportunities to hold meetings like this,” says Bliss. “They host us, are extremely supportive of the PLC and top federal lands issues and the staff worked tirelessly with us on major issues and lined up important meetings for us.  This is a great example of how NCBA helps cattlemen from all across the country have their voices heard in Washington, D.C. They are here every day, in the heart of it, and really working for us.”

The priority discussed in the meetings was the coordination of an assessment program that will be uniform across the country.  “We hope USDA Secretary Ann Veneman and Interior Secretary Gale Norton will make this a priority,” says Bliss. “We plan to hold everybody’s feet to the fire on this.  That’s how you get things done in this town.”