Interior Secretary Doug Burgum signed an order directing federal agencies to find more land for livestock grazing, speed up permit renewals and improve federal rangeland health.
The Oct. 27 Secretarial Order creates the Rangeland Health Initiative across agencies within the Department of the Interior (DOI). The order sets deadlines to find more grazing opportunities, process overdue permit renewals and look at suspended animal unit months (AUMs).
“This order cuts through bureaucratic red tape to deliver certainty and flexibility for our nation’s ranchers,” Burgum said. He said the changes are intended to support domestic livestock production, strengthen rural economies and help lower meat prices for consumers.
Finding additional grazing
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will lead the initiative, working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Reclamation, National Park Service and other DOI offices.
Within 30 days, the four agencies must identify properties that could support long-term grazing or provide temporary forage for permittees displaced by wildfire, drought or other conditions. Their reports must include maps and explain any legal restrictions, land-use planning requirements or other factors affecting availability.
Once lands have been identified, the agencies have 120 days to outline the steps needed to authorize grazing, explain the application process and propose a timeline for issuing permits or agreements.
BLM also has 150 days to develop a department-wide grazing availability map with USDA and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and incorporate the information into its existing vacant allotment mapping tool.
Addressing permits
BLM has 45 days to issue guidance that establishes a clear application process for vacant allotments, explain how it will consider qualified applicants and set target timelines for field offices to act.
The order states the guidance must address existing preferences for local livestock producers and explain how young and beginning ranchers will be considered under applicable law. Where forage is consistently available, qualified applicants should be offered 10-year permits rather than non-renewable annual permits.
Within 60 days, BLM must submit a plan to eliminate its grazing permit and lease renewal backlog, identifying pending renewals by state and field office and establishing annual reduction targets. Permittees meeting their permit conditions should receive 10-year renewals unless regulations allow a shorter term. Applications proposing no changes to current grazing management will receive priority.
Burgum also wants technology to expedite the paperwork process. The order calls for the BLM and the agency’s chief information officer to develop a plan using artificial intelligence and other tools to identify eligible renewals and help prepare environmental reviews and draft decisions within 90 days. Final decisions will remain with authorized BLM officers.
The order also requires BLM to inventory suspended AUMs within 90 days, working with affected permittees. The agency must then outline how those grazing allocations could be evaluated and restored where the law and rangeland conditions allow. A report due within 180 days must show how many suspended AUMs have been reinstated and provide a plan for evaluating the remainder.
Ranchers welcome change
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) and Public Lands Council (PLC) supported the order, saying access to unused forage and more predictable permitting can help producers rebuild the cattle herd.
“This Secretarial Order streamlines permitting to get ranchers back on these long-neglected areas and carry out important voluntary conservation work,” said NCBA President-elect Kim Brackett.
The order calls for well-managed grazing to help reduce wildfire fuels and control invasive annual grasses. It also directs agencies to recommend policy changes that unnecessarily restrict grazing or ranchers’ ability to protect livestock from predators.
PLC President Ron Cerri said the order recognizes ranchers as partners in land management.
“PLC has long led industry efforts to improve grazing flexibility to empower livestock producers to quickly make decisions that fully incorporate the needs of the land, livestock production, and multiple-use requirements,” Cerri said. “Today’s Secretarial Order makes clear that Secretary Burgum views ranchers as partners in important land management decisions.”
Environmental groups oppose order
Western Watersheds Project and other environmental groups opposed the order, arguing that faster permitting and expanded grazing could harm wildlife, watersheds and already-degraded rangelands.
“Vacant grazing allotments and other public lands that are currently spared from the destructive impacts of commercial livestock grazing aren’t ‘underutilized,’” said Chris Krupp, public lands attorney for WildEarth Guardians.
Josh Osher, Western Watersheds Project’s policy director, disputed the claim that the changes would lower beef prices, citing research estimating public-land ranching contributes less than 2% of U.S. beef. — Charles Wallace, WLJ contributing editor
