Witnesses explain multiple benefits of public lands grazing at congressional hearing

A lieutenant governor, a scientist and an agricultural industry leader made the case for eliminating regulatory burdens and legal loopholes impacting livestock grazing on federal land during a House Natural Resources subcommittee hearing held recently. Idaho Lieutenant Governor Brad Little, University of Montana Professor Dave Naugle, and Arizona Farm Bureau President Stefanie Smallhouse provided testimony to the subcommittee on federal lands hearing entitled “The Essential Role of Livestock Grazing on Federal Lands and Its Importance to Rural America.” The witnesses emphasized the valuable contribution public lands ranchers make to the economic viability of rural communities and the health of America’s shared natural resources. “Ranchers are indispensable in the successful management of our public lands. Unlike government administrators, who are only there for a few years, ranchers have been on the land for generations,” said Little, a third-generation rancher testifying on behalf of the state of Idaho, the Public Lands Council and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. “If ranchers are regulated off, our country loses the most effective and efficient public lands managers, and the private inholdings are likely sold for development.”...MORE