Grazers wait for BLM ruling on Green Mountain

A delay in a decision over grazing rules covering a large part of Fremont County is preventing the Bureau of Land Management from making rangeland improvements in the area. The setback has also set the BLM back from implementing a new management regime. "It's one of those items everyone is waiting for," BLM Lander field office manager Rick Vander Voet said. The decision concerns appeals from environmentalists and livestock growers regarding management rules for the former Green Mountain Common Allotment the BLM established in 2011. Both groups sought changes to the proposed rules. "We can plan, but we certainly can't implement the range improvements that were part of the Green Mountain plan," Vander Voet said. "That makes the management proposed ... impossible to do." The BLM has been operating under the same conditions for the past three years, said BLM rangeland management specialist Curtis Bryan in an interview. "The challenges going into this grazing season aren't any greater than last year or the year before that," he said. The GMCA's area covers 522,000 acres in southern Fremont County and parts of Sweetwater County. Sixteen livestock producers hold 19 grazing permits for those rangelands. Many of the rangeland improvements, such as fences and watering structures, the 2011 rules called for have been put on hold while the case is resolved. Hearings were held in the case in February and March, and the parties submitted final written arguments over the summer...more