Federal Lands Grazing

The sheer increase in the nation’s population and the resulting varied interests has resulted in a high-stakes competition regarding public land use. Changing social values with regard to the protection and conservation of the environment and natural resources have demanded a greater balance between livestock grazing and “other legitimate uses of public lands, such as recreation, wildlife habitat, riparian management, endangered species management, mining, hunting, cultural resource protection, wilderness, and a wide variety of other uses” (History of Grazing). One area that has been under the magnifying glass is the subject of fees charged to ranchers for grazing permits. To non-ranching citizens of the United States, the fees seem exorbitantly low. “In 2007, the grazing fee on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and most Forest Service lands is $1.35 per animal unit month (AUM; a measure of the amount of forage necessary to sustain a cow and calf for one month)” (Federal Grazing Fees). The Government Accountability Office had determined that low grazing fees resulted in a cost to American taxpayers of at least $132.5 million in FY 2004. This seems tantamount to providing welfare to some of the richest ranching corporations in the nation.

However, there are some very logical arguments for keeping grazing fees low and for strengthening restrictions and environmental protections at the same time. When grazing fees are kept at a low level, ranchers are able to keep more capital on hand. This makes grazing permits very valuable and increases the incentive to comply with regulations and stipulations attached to the permits. To make compliance even more motivating to ranchers, strict penalties need to be enacted for those caught grazing illegally or out of compliance. The penalties need to go beyond the revocation of the permit and reach deep into the ranchers’ pockets in order to make cheating a less profitable venture. To enforce restrictions and protections, there needs to be random monitoring across the nation at any given time. This will prevent ranchers from figuring out where the next area to be inspected is located. All of these regulations leading to greater compliance will at the same time result in less degradation of the grazing lands and increased restoration of the environment.

Works Cited

“Federal Grazing Fees”, www.sagebrushsea.org/mn_grazing fees_.htm

“History of Grazing”, Nevada Bureau of Land Management, Rangeland Management, http://www.nv.blm.gov/rangelands/range.htm