Western Watersheds Project (WWP) recently prepared an analysis of public lands grazing permit renewals and claims the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is neglecting to properly assess environmental impacts of grazing on the land.
The environmentalist group obtained grazing records through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, and it alleges BLM has been using a loophole under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA) to limit public engagement and enable environmental degradation on public lands.
Section 402(c)(2) of the FLPMA reads: “The terms and conditions in a grazing permit or lease that has expired, or was terminated due to a grazing preference transfer, shall be continued under a new permit or lease until the date on which the secretary concerned completes any environmental analysis and documentation for the permit or lease required under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) and other applicable laws.”
Grazing permits and leases typically undergo a public analysis under NEPA and land health standards before they can be renewed. WWP alleges BLM’s “failure to comply with the law in regard to both NEPA assessments and land health evaluations” led to a series of congressional annual appropriations riders that mandate the renewal of expired grazing permits “pending NEPA processing” in order to allow the BLM time to clear its backlog.
The riders were made permanent in 2014, WWP said, with the expectation that BLM would continue to reduce the backlog of grazing permits requiring NEPA analysis and land health evaluations.
“Rather than working to reduce the backlog, since 2014, the Bureau has sharply reduced the number of new NEPA analyses and has relied almost exclusively on the now codified authority to sidestep the NEPA process,” the group said.
WWP said that in 2021, 54 percent of allotments and 67 percent of animal unit months (AUMs) were authorized without any NEPA analysis. The group pointed to Nevada in particular, claiming a total of 84 percent of allotments and 89 percent of AUMs were authorized without a NEPA review.
The group further claimed that in the last decade, BLM has used the FLPMA 402(c)(2) exception to renew grazing permits on more than half of the allotments in every state but Montana and New Mexico.
In addition, WWP said BLM’s management of livestock grazing is worse in areas with important habitat for certain species, such as the sage grouse. “The Bureau’s failure to complete new NEPA analysis for grazing allotments in sage grouse habitat, nearly seven years after the adoption of new management plans, demonstrates that adequate regulatory mechanisms are not in place to ensure that the species is being protected,” the group said.
WWP noted the worsening drought conditions across the nation and said the impacts of a hotter, drier climate and over 150 years of livestock grazing have led to ecological state changes in the Southwest and the Great Basin.
“In spite of clear evidence that the lands under their protection are unhealthy due to livestock grazing, the Bureau’s land managers are willfully disregarding the law, the public and the stewardship responsibility of the agency,” the group concluded.
In response to WWP’s accusations, the Public Lands Council refuted the group’s claims.
“What they didn’t tell you, however, is that data extends as far back as reports from the last decade, and that the measures they (obtained via the FOIA) are unable to attribute resource conditions to anything other than grazing,” said Kaitlynn Glover, PLC executive director, in a PLC Capital Issues newsletter.
“Put simply, this ‘objective’ group has a mission to get livestock grazing off the landscape and are willing to distort data and lie by omission in order to make their point.” — Anna Miller, WLJ managing editor
