Producers who run livestock on 240 million acres of public land in the American West are largely welcoming a series of reforms to grazing regulations governing their cattle and sheep that have been proposed by the Trump administration.
Changes to the rules are being sought by both the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management, which together administer roughly 23,000 grazing permits and leases. On Wednesday, Brenda Younkin, a Wyoming-based Trump appointee, told a webinar attended by livestock producers, landowners and interested members of the public that the purpose of the changes is to “modernize our grazing regulations.”
“We needed to work on the rules that have been in place since 1995,” said Younkin, the U.S. Department of Interior’s deputy assistant secretary for lands and minerals.
There are “four key themes” driving reforms at the BLM, Younkin said. Those are “flexibility,” “clarity,” “efficiency” and “compliance,” she said. In practice, the reforms would essentially give livestock producers more wiggle room about where and when they stock cattle and sheep on federal land. Some environmental safeguards would also be relaxed: Water quality requirements, for example, would be removed from BLM’s rangeland health standards and would instead be solely administered by the states.
Working lands-focused organizations are generally supportive of the changes. Western Landowners Alliance CEO Lesli Allison, whose employer organized the webinar, told attendees that to “sum it up,” the changes being pursued “are great.”
“At the end of the day, we hope to see a set of clear, effective and durable grazing regulations that promote the health and the continued multiple use of public lands well into the future,” Allison said. “All Americans have a vested stake in this conversation, and the passions do run high.”
Southwest Wyoming cattle rancher Marissa Taylor told attendees that she’s looking forward to changes that “streamline” and cut down on “red tape.”
“By and large, my agency staff already has the ability to do almost all of the things [in the proposed reforms],” Taylor said. “It’s just a process that’s quite burdensome.”
Nevada cattle rancher Duane Coombs spoke highly of federal allotments where he already has the “flexibility” of a “12-month permit” that lets him move cows where he’d like when conditions allow.
“That’s what we’re chasing here,” Coombs said. “The flexibility that we are hoping for with these new regs is key to continued improvement of public lands.”
The Trump administration’s vision is for more flexible grazing rules to transcend fencelines. In early June, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins issued a “grazing action plan” directive that “elevate[s] grazing as an administration” priority and would “expand livestock grazing on federal lands.” An accompanying MOU that Rollins signed with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum commits to “cooperative implementation” of the reforms on both national forests and BLM property.
Praise for the proposed grazing regulation reforms is far from unanimous. The day before the Western Landowners Alliance’s video call, two environmental groups, Western Watersheds Project and WildEarth Guardians, held a webinar of their own. Presenters pointed out that the changes reduce public input, extend grazing seasons and allow for more intensive grazing on land owned by all Americans without environmental review.
“These proposed regulations would further privatize public lands for the private livestock grazing industry,” said Lizzy Pennock, an attorney with WildEarth Guardians.
Western Watersheds Project staffer Josh Osher presented data that showed a large portion of public rangelands are being grazed too heavily. In Nevada, he said, over 60% of allotments are failing land-health standards
“The vast majority of BLM grazing allotments are not even getting any environmental review, and the permits are being rubber stamped,” Osher said. “Over 60% of the allotments and 74% of the AUMS [animal unit months] … are renewed without any environmental analysis at the same terms and conditions decade after decade after decade.”
During the Western Landowners Alliance call, some attendees were open with the Trump administration officials about the sorry state of most federal grazing allotments. Liz Munn, who works at The Nature Conservancy, spoke to the decline of the sagebrush biome during the 11 years she’s lived in Nevada.
“It used to be 50% of the sagebrush biome here was in pretty good condition — intermediate or better,” Munn said. “Now it’s closer to 38%, maybe less. We’re losing ground.”
Munn also bemoaned the unrealistic workload that’s being asked of the BLM’s rangeland staff. The BLM-Nevada offices have some 600 employees statewide, she said, and they’re tasked with managing 48 million acres.
“That’s like one person for every 80,000 acres,” Munn said. “That is crazy. And it’s impossible. It’s just impossible for people to be successful when they have that much ground to cover.”
“Properly staffing these agencies is essential,” she added.
BLM-Wyoming’s rangeland staff have been hammered by federal workforce turmoil, too.
During an early June tour of the Red Canyon Fire scar, BLM rangeland specialist Alicia Hummel told journalists that her field office’s range staff was “at a third” of its normal capacity.
“So I actually have 98 different producers that I individually work with,” Hummel said.
Younkin, the Trump appointee at the Interior Department, touched on the need for more staff. BLM is bringing on 460 people, she said, adding that she’s “certainly aware of the challenges.”
“Part of it is restricted by budget,” Younkin said. “So reach out to your electeds and let them know, because there’s only so much we can do from inside.”
Younkin also encouraged attendees of the Western Landowners Alliance webinar to comment on the BLM’s proposed grazing rule. Those comments are due by July 13.
