ASI comments support continued grazing at sheep station

The American Sheep Industry Association filed extensive comments to the U.S. Sheep Experiment Station Grazing and Associated Activities Project 2016 Revised Draft Environmental Impact Statement. The comments in their entirety are available at www.sheepusa.org/IssuesPrograms_Issues_SheepExperimentStation. “The Agricultural Research Service has provided a critical venue for sheep breed development, evaluation and improvement,” read the written comments submitted by ASI Executive Director Peter Orwick. “Because the majority of America’s sheep are bred and raised west of the 100th meridian, mostly in the Intermountain West, the research and development conducted at the station is invaluable. For example, the station has made germplasm available to ranchers and has developed three of the most important sheep breeds: the Columbia, the Targhee and the Polypay. ARS has also conducted extensive research on the effects of fire on rangelands, the health and recovery of the sage grouse and its habitat, controlling invasive and noxious plants and limiting impacts of livestock grazing practices on natural resources. “The purpose and need of the EIS are defined by the mission of ARS and the station itself. ARS’s mission is to ‘conduct research to develop and transfer solutions to agricultural problems of high national priority and provide information access to and dissemination to...more