Congressman concerned grazing dispute could lead to widespread closure decisions

A dispute that on the surface appeared to have pitted a few Lander County ranchers against a lone BLM district manager could balloon into policy detrimental to grazing, according to U.S. Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nev. The Nevada congressman was in Elko on Thursday and, while in town, met with local representatives from the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service to discuss public land management issues. On his way to Elko, Amodei met with Battle Mountain District Manager Doug Furtado, who has come under fire this year from ranchers after the Argenta allotment was closed due to ongoing drought. Ranchers who use the allotment were told in May the health of the range on Mount Lewis was threatened because of extremely dry conditions and cattle could not be turned out, as outlined in the district’s drought management plan. The decision sparked outrage from the permittees, some of whom said they had nowhere else to run their livestock. In response, Elko County Commissioner Grant Gerber led a “Grass March” horse ride from Elko to Carson City to deliver a petition to the governor’s office demanding Furtado be removed from his position. As a compromise, the BLM allowed grazing until “drought triggers” were met. “In retrospect from an enforcement perspective it would have been preferable for BLM to issue a straight forward closure order, because the Decision on appeal herein does implicate a number of legal and factual issues requiring adjudication and briefing, including, in particular, the issue of the content of drought-related triggers,” wrote James H. Heffernan, administrative law judge, in an order filed Wednesday in the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Office of Hearings and Appeals. After a cursory read, Amodei said the order “scares the bejesus” out of him because of the wide-scale implications it could have on ranching operations. He said he intended to review it more thoroughly soon...more