Federal rangelands support ranching communities, wildlife habitat, watershed health, recreation, wildfire resilience, and open space across the West. PERC recently submitted comments to the Bureau of Land Management on its proposed revision of federal grazing regulations, highlighting where the proposal gets it right and one place where it falls short:
- Effective management of federal lands requires informed decision making and rules that are clear and outcome-oriented, rather than general and prescriptive. PERC commends BLM for proposing several changes that make land management decisions more efficient, locally driven, and responsive to unique demands.
- Ranchers, permittees, and private landowners who neighbor BLM parcels are essential partners in public land stewardship. BLM is wise to treat them as such by proposing reforms to the way it assigns responsibility for diminished land health and handles challenges to grazing decisions.
- However, BLM’s proposal to restrict grazing permits to owners of “production-oriented livestock” is inconsistent with the Taylor Grazing Act and reduces the benefits of grazing on BLM allotments.
