ND grazing groups mulling new federal agreements

The two major rancher associations in western North Dakota's federal grasslands are deciding whether to sign new 10-year agreements with the U.S. government to govern the administration of grazing permits. The technical agreements between the Forest Service and the Medora and McKenzie County grazing associations would replace accords that expired Monday for grazing on much of the 1 million-acre Little Missouri National Grasslands - the largest grazing area in the country governed by the Forest Service. The new agreements do not, however, answer the question of how much grazing will be reduced under a new management plan implemented earlier this decade for the Dakota Prairie Grasslands, a Forest Service division that oversees the Little Missouri and three other national grasslands in North Dakota and South Dakota totaling just under 1.3 million acres. Grazing reductions are being determined through a separate process expected to continue for another seven years...read more