Public Lands Ranchers Encouraged by Proposed Grazing Regulations

New proposed grazing regulations could improve grazing management and help sustain ranching on public lands, according to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA). The Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) published the proposed regulations and request for comments in today’s Federal Register.

NCBA and the Public Lands Council (PLC), while still reviewing the details of this proposed rule, say this represents a good start toward a regulatory system that will better enhance the business climate for our nation’s public lands ranchers.

“We are grateful to the Administration for the attention it is paying to the issues important to our members,” says Jeff Eisenberg, director of federal lands for NCBA and executive director of PLC. “Members of PLC and NCBA will work together to develop a formal industry position on the regulations, which we will submit to the Department as part of the notice and comment rulemaking process.”

The BLM says it is hopeful the new regulations will improve grazing management and help continue public lands ranching in the rural West. Interior Secretary Gale Norton, in a speech in New Mexico last week, said the proposal recognizes the economic and social benefits of public lands ranching, as well as its preservation of open space in the rapidly growing West.

Public lands grazing plays an important role in many rural economies. “Forty percent of Western beef cattle inventories spend some time grazing on public lands,” says Eisenberg. “Public lands grazing helps economically support individual families and communities where ranching is important.” 

In addition, the preservation of rural landscapes and open space native to the West is at issue.  “Maintaining open space and the cultural fabric of the West is a concern for ranchers who graze cattle on public lands and on adjacent private lands,” says Eisenberg. The American Farmland Trust reports that 11 percent of all prime ranchland in the Rocky Mountain West, which translates into nearly 9 million acres, is threatened by conversion to development by 2020.

“Ranching is one of the recognized uses of our public lands,” Eisenberg says. “We’re hopeful the regulatory system put in place will recognize the contributions of public lands ranching on Western economies and to the management of the lands themselves.”