BLM Publishes Final Environmental Impact Study on Changes to Grazing Regulations

The Bureau of Land Management today announced the availability of a final environmental impact study that concludes upcoming grazing regulation changes will produce long-term benefits for public rangelands. An official notice of the study’s availability will be published in the Federal Register on Friday, June 17, 2005. “This environmental impact analysis underscores grazing’s role as a vital use of public lands in the rural West,” said Rebecca Watson, assistant secretary of the Interior for Land and Minerals. “The revisions will improve BLM’s management of public lands ranching, an activity that not only supports rural economies, but also preserves open space and wildlife habitat in the rapidly growing West.” The final environmental impact study, posted on BLM’s national Web site (www.blm.gov/grazing), analyzes the impact of the upcoming grazing regulation revisions, including their ecological, cultural, social, and economic effects. More specifically, the study examines the impact of a grazing management option that tracks with the provisions of the upcoming grazing regulation changes, as well as the effects of two other management alternatives. The new grazing regulations, to be published next month in the Federal Register, are aimed at improving BLM’s working relationships with public lands ranchers. The revisions also reflect the agency’s commitment to managing the public lands for multiple uses, including grazing, while ensuring the health and productivity of these lands. The revisions will retain key elements of the “Rangeland Reform” initiative that revised grazing regulations nearly a decade ago. Specifically, the regulations will continue the role of BLM’s Resource Advisory Councils, composed of citizens across the West who advise and make recommendations to the agency on public-land issues. The revised regulations will also leave intact the rangeland health standards and guidelines developed by the RACs....

Go here(pdf)to view a Fact Sheet on the grazing regs.

Go here(pdf)to view a Q&A on the grazing regs.

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