The Public Lands Council (PLC) and U.S. Forest Service (USFS) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to promote cooperative monitoring of grazing allotments on National Forest System (NFS) lands. PLC said the MOU will help public lands ranchers and local USFS officials cooperate in order to collect and analyze data on rangeland health, ensuring better management of national forests and grasslands.
“As America’s original conservationists, cattle and sheep producers are stewards of millions of acres of federal land,” said PLC President Mark Roeber. “Data is key to every decision permittees make on the landscape, and this MOU will allow permittees and the Forest Service to better share key information and strengthen the partnership between producers and agency officials.”
Memo details
The MOU, titled “Allotment level monitoring for overseeing livestock grazing on national forests and national grasslands,” is intended to promote and enhance allotment level monitoring on NFS lands. PLC members who hold NFS grazing permits may use the MOU to help develop and implement a cooperative monitoring program on their grazing allotments.
“Monitoring of rangelands is essential to the sustainability of livestock grazing activities on national forests and grasslands,” the MOU read.
“Cooperative monitoring enhances working relationships of the parties at the local level when the parties cooperatively acquire, analyze, and approve data collections to assist with creating adaptive rangeland management programs that enhance and improve the condition of rangelands.”
In addition, the MOU noted cooperative monitoring could lead to an increased understanding of resource conditions and management needs, which can lead to more responsive and proactive management practices.
Kaitlynn Glover, PLC executive director and National Cattlemen’s Beef Association executive director of Natural Resources, spoke on the new MOU during a federal lands meeting at a recent cattlemen’s association convention. The Bureau of Land Management is close behind with their own MOU, and it should be expected before the end of the year, Glover said at the joint California Cattlemen’s Association/California CattleWomen and Nevada Cattlemen’s Association Convention held in Sparks, NV, on Dec. 1.
Glover said the cooperative monitoring of grazing allotments is critical for collecting data for agencies to utilize. When environmental and conservation groups fight against the benefits of grazing and say there is no data to back it up, these MOUs prove otherwise, she said.
Under the agreement, PLC agrees to:
• Support the program among its membership.
• Serve as a liaison to address concerns for grazing permittees.
• Provide an update to USFS on cooperative activities prior to the annual PLC meeting.
• Discuss cooperative monitoring activities with membership at the annual PLC meeting.
In turn, USFS agrees to:
• Identify grazing allotments where cooperative monitoring data is currently collected and analyzed with consenting livestock grazing permittees for their assigned allotments.
• Contact grazing permittees and invite them to participate in the program and establish a cooperative rangeland monitoring program for their allotments.
• Encourage and increase grazing allotments participating in the program each year.
• Provide an update to PLC prior to its annual meeting for any cooperative monitoring activities in place with permittees.
• Participate in discussions about cooperative monitoring activities on NFS lands at the annual PLC meeting.
• Work with permittees participating in the program to develop monitoring plans for their allotments.
• Provide information and updates on rangeland condition changes as they become available to permittees.
• Work with federal agencies to improve the consistency of rangeland management associated with monitoring protocols, data standards and data management.
• Reserve the management flexibility to establish priorities that would continue cooperative monitoring activities with livestock grazing permittees.
• Coordinate with the Natural Resources Conservation Service to inquire and provide soil surveys and/or vegetation correlation information for sites involved in cooperative monitoring.
• Ensure conformance with USFS protocols.
• Ensure permittees and USFS agree on methods for collecting cooperative monitoring data, which must happen prior to implementing the allotment monitoring plan.
• Ensure that permittees have the option to seek assistance from other individuals or institutions for monitoring data collection.
• Ensure this MOU does not prevent other federal land users or interested parties from participating in the cooperative rangeland monitoring program.
“The Forest Service values the importance of cooperative relationships,” said USFS Chief Randy Moore. “This MOU signifies our continued commitment to work cooperatively with our permittees and to build trust, while expanding our collective ability to gather important information about the health and productivity of National Forest System lands.”
The MOU is in effect from 2022 to January 2027. — Anna Miller,WLJ managing editor
