Battle lines form around USDA chief's grazing directive

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue's directive last week promoting grazing on Forest Service land could rekindle a long-running debate about why the federal government is in the livestock-grazing business. Ranchers cheered Perdue's announcement, in which he told the Forest Service to make grazing permits easier to obtain and to give grazing more prominence in the agency's management plans for national grasslands. Environmentalists said the move will put sensitive public lands, including waterways, at risk of contamination from overuse by farm animals, while continuing a money-losing operation for the government. "The Forest Service will recognize grazing on national grasslands as essential for their management and streamline range improvements and the permit renewal process to reduce burdens and improve customer service for America's grazers," the Agriculture Department said in announcing Perdue's June 12 memorandum to Forest Service Chief Vicki Christiansen. While the department didn't elaborate on how it will speed the process, congressional and other supporters said simpler reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act — an ongoing process at the agency that could generate revised regulations in the next few months — are a key part of the effort. Perdue also said the forest management plan should recognize grazing as "essential." Environmental groups, long critical of grazing on federal land, said the directive foreshadows the NEPA changes and perpetuates a policy they consider misguided. Farm groups and many Western lawmakers say grazing is a useful land management tool that also benefits livestock farmers who move their animals onto the land as part of a feeding rotation. Properly practiced, they say, grazing can reduce wildfire risks while mimicking the symbiotic relationship between bison and grasslands that was once vital to the prairie. "Livestock grazing is an important tool in grassland and prairie ecosystems," said Kaitlynn Glover, executive director of the Public Lands Council and for natural resources policy at the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, which advocates for Western ranchers. "Grazing spurs healthy growth of native perennials, decreases fine fuel loads that contribute to increased risk of catastrophic wildfire and can be integral in targeted reductions of annual invasive grasses," Glover said. "Grazing also contributes to healthy range conditions that maximize carbon sequestration and soil health for overall healthier ecosystems."...MORE

The Secretarial Memorandum is here.