Commissioner criticizes BLM drought mitigation

Commissioner Grant Gerber criticized the local Bureau of Land Management office over a recent announcement regarding drought mitigation, arguing the outcome will harm sage grouse. The BLM revised the drought mitigation environmental assessment, and opened it up for a 15-day public comment period. In the announcement, the BLM stated staff were instructed to monitor the condition of the range due to the area’s ongoing drought. “The Elko District coordinated last year with grazing permittees to adjust their livestock operations to correlate with likely reduced forage production from drought,” the release states. “The Elko District may recommend these actions again this year.” Gerber said ranchers should be allowed to make grazing decisions. The commissioner worried the BLM is quick to act when its decision is to cut grazing, but slow to reach decisions on other issues. Gerber also said if grazing on public land is reduced, the BLM won’t reverse its decision in wet years. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will make a decision in 2015 whether to list sage grouse as endangered, threatened or remain unlisted. County leaders believe the optimal approach to saving sage grouse populations is by killing predators, such as ravens, and reducing fire fuel through grazing. “As a result (of reduced grazing) it can be expected that there will be many, many sage grouse burned and tens of thousands of acres of sage grouse habitat destroyed needlessly,” Gerber said. Gerber said there is a strong correlation between grazing cuts and large wildfires...more