Grazing on Public Lands: Overview
Grazing on public lands, particularly in the western United States, is a significant aspect of both the economy and culture, rooted in practices established long before formal regulations. The Taylor Grazing Act of 1934 marked a pivotal moment by initiating federal oversight to combat the environmental issues associated with overgrazing. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), formed in 1946, took on the responsibility of managing these lands and issuing grazing permits. As of early 2020, the BLM oversees approximately 155 million acres where nearly 18,000 ranchers graze livestock, primarily cattle and sheep. Current discussions surrounding grazing policies are reigniting debates, with proponents advocating for looser regulations to support local economies and environmental health, while opponents argue that such practices can harm ecosystems and impose costs on taxpayers. The ongoing dialogue highlights the complexities of balancing economic interests with environmental conservation, reflecting diverse perspectives on land use and management.
Grazing on Public Lands: Overview
Introduction
Livestock ranching is a key part of the economy and culture of the western United States. Though initially established with little government oversight, the industry became subject to an increased level of federal regulation in 1934, when the US government passed the Taylor Grazing Act. Prompted in part by concerns about the environmental and economic ramifications of overgrazing, the act regulated the grazing of livestock on public lands owned by the federal government, a common practice in the western states. The US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) began to manage those lands, issue grazing permits, and enforce grazing-related regulations upon its establishment in 1946 and remained responsible for those duties into the early twenty-first century. Throughout that era, ranchers periodically came into conflict with the BLM and the federal government over grazing policies, which, for some in the livestock industry, became closely associated with broader issues of regulation and government interference.
The debate surrounding grazing on public lands reignited in January 2020, when the BLM announced plans to reform and streamline its policies and revealed that those reforms might in some cases entail a loosening of restrictions on grazing. For proponents of livestock grazing on BLM-managed lands, the proposal represented a welcome change. They claim that the practice is beneficial both to the environment and to local economies. Opponents of the practice, however, argue that livestock grazing on public lands is harmful to the environment and to the taxpayers who effectively subsidize ranchers’ operations. As such, they assert that the BLM should reconsider its proposed policy changes and instead implement regulations that take conservation research into account.
Understanding the Discussion
Bureau of Land Management (BLM): A US government agency founded in 1946 and responsible for the management of the United States’ public lands.
Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976: A federal law regulating land policy, including policy related to grazing.
General Land Office: A predecessor to the BLM that was responsible for overseeing public lands during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Taylor Grazing Act of 1934: A federal law that regulated the grazing of livestock on public lands.
US Grazing Service: A predecessor to the BLM that was responsible for managing grazing on public lands during the 1930s and 1940s.
History
In an agricultural context, the term “public lands” typically refers to lands owned by the United States government, as opposed to publicly accessible lands managed by a state or local authority. The US Department of the Treasury oversaw the management of such lands as early as the late eighteenth century. In 1812 oversight shifted to the newly established General Land Office, a body within the US Department of the Interior. From early on, ranchers in the western United States allowed their livestock to graze on both privately owned land and public lands managed by the US government, a practice that was regulated largely through informal agreements during the nineteenth century. Early forms of grazing regulations emerged during the early twentieth century, including the establishment of the first fee-based grazing permits.
By the 1930s, the federal government and the livestock industry had become increasingly aware of the dangers of overgrazing, a phenomenon in which long-term grazing in an area causes serious damage to that area’s plant life. To address that issue and regulate the practice of grazing on public lands, the US government passed the Taylor Grazing Act of 1934, named for Colorado representative Edward Taylor. Under that act, the federal government established the US Grazing Service to oversee grazing operations, divided public lands into grazing districts, and implemented a permitting system in which ranchers paid a fee in order to use a particular allotment of land. In addition to developing procedure for issuing permits, the federal government introduced various related policies, including permit-expiration dates, renewal procedures, and enforcement. The Grazing Service and the General Land Office merged in 1946, forming the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
Over the next decades the federal government’s approach to land management continued to evolve in response to environmental and conservation concerns, the needs of the livestock and timber industries, and the popularity of outdoor recreation, among other factors. Policies related to the conservation of endangered species, the limitation of certain recreational activities, the regulation of development, and the preservation of key archaeological sites were codified. In addition, federal legislation continued to refine the US government’s stance toward grazing on public lands throughout the latter half of the twentieth century. The Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 specified that half of grazing fees collected in the relevant states would be set aside for use rehabilitating, protecting, or otherwise improving the lands in the regions in question. The act also emphasized that the BLM take a multiple-use approach to land management, in which public land was managed in such a way as to allow for more than one simultaneous form of use. For instance, an area might be used for livestock grazing as well as recreational pursuits like hiking and conservation purposes such as maintaining a specific species’ habitat.
Objections to the 1976 act sparked the movement known as the Sagebrush Rebellion in the 1970s and ’80s. Members wanted the federal government to transfer control over its public land holdings to the states. The movement saw some success in the administration of President Ronald Reagan, as supporter James G. Watt was named secretary of the Interior and environmental regulation slowed. However, the goal of ending federal control over public lands gained little traction. Meanwhile, the BLM continued to work on collaborative initiatives with state, local, and private stakeholders over the decades, including efforts to combat invasive vegetation, which can spread through grazing practices.
The BLM’s specific policies toward grazing underwent a number of reforms over the years, in keeping with the shifting priorities of individual administrations. They were revised substantially in 1995 amid continuing concerns about overgrazing and erosion, giving the BLM greater power to scale back grazing privileges. Complaints from ranchers that these changes violated the Taylor Grazing Act were dismissed by the US Supreme Court. Although the administration of President George W. Bush sought to revert some of the 1995 reforms and limit the circumstances in which the BLM could revoke a grazing permit or act to address detrimental grazing practices, a US district court blocked those changes in 2007, and the 1995 regulations remained in effect.
Conflicts continued to occasionally arise between ranchers seeking greater access to grazing lands, environmentalists who opposed most or all grazing on public lands, and federal regulators. In the 2000s and 2010s the issue of grazing on public lands gained widespread publicity through a series of disputes related to land rights, grazing privileges, and fees that led to multiple armed standoffs between the federal government and extremist ranchers, the latter largely members or allies of the Bundy family. Rancher Cliven Bundy was involved in a standoff on public land in Nevada in 2014 after refusing to pay more than twenty years of unpaid grazing fees and grazing his cattle in a restricted area. In early 2016 a group of protesters led by Bundy’s son Ammon began an armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon and demanded that federal lands managed by the BLM and other agencies be transferred to the states. The occupation lasted from January 2 to February 11, when the final four members of the occupation surrendered to law enforcement.
Grazing on Public Lands Today
By the start of 2020, the BLM’s grazing oversight extended to about 155 million acres of land in the western contiguous United States, on which almost eighteen thousand individual ranchers or larger companies held permits to graze animals, chiefly cattle and sheep. That January, the BLM announced plans to revise its grazing regulations. Stated goals of that revision included editing the wording of the regulations to improve comprehension and consistency, as well as making substantive policy changes to streamline the permitting process. In a notice issued on January 21, 2020, the BLM specified that the latter alterations might include “changing how the BLM issues decisions for crossing permits, temporary nonrenewable permits, and authorizing grazing to reduce wildfire risk,” among other potential alterations.
As part of the process of assessing the environmental impact of any proposed changes, the BLM solicited feedback from the public, including stakeholders within the livestock industry and representatives of environmental organizations. The call for public comment reignited discussion of grazing on public lands in the United States and called attention to the longstanding debate regarding the environmental and economic ramifications of the practice.
Supporters of grazing on public lands argue that livestock grazing benefits both the environment and the economies of the areas in which it takes place and that the BLM should therefore move forward with its proposed changes, which supporters believe will loosen regulations and better facilitate grazing. Opponents of grazing on public lands, on the other hand, argue that widespread livestock grazing harms the environment and that the government’s support of livestock ranchers places an undue burden on taxpayers. They argue that the BLM should instead formulate policies that better address the concerns of conservationists.
These essays and any opinions, information, or representations contained therein are the creation of the particular author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of EBSCO Information Services.
Bibliography
“About Livestock Grazing on Public Lands.” Bureau of Land Management, US Department of the Interior, www.blm.gov/programs/natural-resources/rangelands-and-grazing/livestock-grazing/about. Accessed 2 July 2024.
Arnett, Ed. “Why Public Land Grazing Is So Important to the American West.” Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, 5 June 2019, www.trcp.org/2019/06/05/public-land-grazing-important-american-west. Accessed 31 July 2020.
Bies, Laura. “The Wildlife Society Provides Recommendations for Grazing Regulations.” The Wildlife Society, 2 Mar. 2020, wildlife.org/the-wildlife-society-provides-recommendations-for-grazing-regulations/. Accessed 31 July 2020.
Davis, Joseph A. “Grazing on Public Lands Still a Source of Controversy . . . and Stories.” Society of Environmental Journalists, 9 Oct. 2019, www.sej.org/publications/tipsheet/grazing-public-lands-still-source-controversy-and-stories. Accessed 31 July 2020.
Einhorn, Catrin. "Biden Administration Announces Rule to Strengthen Protection of Public Lands." The New York Times, 18 Apr. 2024, www.nytimes.com/2024/04/18/climate/blm-public-lands-conservation.html. Accessed 2 July 2024.
“Oregon Standoff Timeline: 41 Days of the Malheur Refuge Occupation and the Aftermath.” Oregon Live, 9 Jan. 2019, www.oregonlive.com/portland/2017/02/oregon‗standoff‗timeline‗41‗da.html. Accessed 31 July 2020.
Shoemaker, June E. “Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the Proposed Revision of Grazing for Public Lands.” Federal Register, 21 Jan. 2020, www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/01/21/2020-00849/notice-of-intent-to-prepare-an-environmental-impact-statement-for-the-proposed-revision-of-grazing. Accessed 31 July 2020.
Wiles, Tay. “Interactive Timeline: Livestock Grazing in the West.” High Country News, 1 Mar. 2016, www.hcn.org/articles/interactive-timeline-a-history-of-livestock-grazing-in-the-west. Accessed 31 July 2020.
Wrabley, Raymond B., Jr. “Cowboy Capitalism or Welfare Ranching? The Public Lands Grazing Policies of the Bush Administration.” Public Land and Resources Law Review, vol. 29, 2008, scholarship.law.umt.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1256&context=plrlr. Accessed 31 July 2020.