Green Mountain grazing decision doesn't satisfy ranchers, critics

The Green Mountain Grazing Allotment spreads across 522,000 acres of Wyoming — one of the largest unfenced livestock grazing allotments in the region. The allotment runs to the northern end of the Red Desert, and the varied topography serves 16 permittees who share 19 permits. The Bureau of Land Management has overseen the grazing area since the 1930s, said Rubel Vigil Jr., assistant field manager in the Lander BLM office. The BLM announced its newest refinement of management of the allotment when it issued a final decision about future management of the land on May 20. The new plan breaks the allotment into several areas and follows a grazing schedule, allowing ranchers to move cattle and some sheep into prime riparian grazing areas, but only during certain times of the year. The plan reduces the number of potential livestock allowed to graze in the area by 45 percent, and also reduces the amount of time each year cattle can graze on the allotment by about 10 percent. The plan also calls for more than 40 miles of new fencing, for which the cost will be split between ranchers and the BLM, to better control where livestock wanders. The BLM considered additional fencing but found the public, especially those who walk the historic trails running through the land, prefer open landscapes. Fences can affect wild horses and large, migrating game, Vigil said. The BLM adopted the plan after finding the allotment wasn’t meeting standards set by the BLM and the state regarding soils, riparian and wetland vegetation, diversity of plants, habitats supporting threatened and endangered species, water quality and air quality, Vigil said...more