Last fall, USDA released a 13-page beef industry plan that intended to tackle challenges within the beef industry. One of the plan’s key priorities included expanding grazing access on federal lands.
USDA has made recent moves to clarify and revise the regulations that guide grazing on public lands. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) administer about 244 million acres of rangelands across 28 states.
In January, USDA released two guidance documents that are intended to help field staff determine how to satisfy National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) guidelines and whether further analysis is required, and how term grazing permits should be issued.
The first document outlines the NEPA guidelines that were revised last summer and how to make efficient rangeland management decisions.
“Most rangeland management projects and activities are subject to NEPA,” the document read. “However, the level of analysis should be commensurate with the decision being made and the associated complexity.”
Notably, the guidance also reads: “Grazing permits are administrative actions and do not necessarily require a NEPA analysis.”
The document emphasizes taking more efficient approaches to satisfy NEPA requirements by focusing on the circumstances, information, potential issues and relevant actions. Not every livestock grazing or related management action requires a new analysis, the guidance read.
“If additional analysis is warranted, consider focusing the scope and scale of the analysis on the changed circumstances and related effects rather than updating the entire prior analysis,” the guide suggests.
The document also explains several frequently asked questions about approving livestock grazing use.
In the second document, the guidance reviews the two authorities for issuing term grazing permits: continuation of terms under new permit or lease and issuance of a grazing permit may be categorically excluded. The guide notes the levels of modifications that are able to be made to current grazing management, and provides references to help staff determine how to make a decision.
“Before investing time in deciding which authority to use, administrative units should first determine if the requirements of NEPA have already been met relative to livestock grazing on the allotment in question,” the guidance reads. “Activities which merely implement a decision previously analyzed under NEPA are not new Federal actions requiring independent analysis
Environmental groups pushed back against the white papers, calling them “an assault on America’s public lands.”
“This guidance encourages more damage to the public’s lands while placing more livestock in conflict with wolves, grizzlies and other carnivores,” said Taylor McKinnon of the Center for Biological Diversity.
PLC, BLM sign MOU
In related news, the Public Lands Council (PLC) and BLM on Feb. 2 signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to promote cooperative monitoring of grazing allotments on BLM lands. The agency said the agreement will help public lands ranchers and local BLM officials cooperate to collect and analyze data on rangeland health.
“Federal lands ranchers manage millions of acres of federal land through livestock grazing as well as voluntary conservation work, ranchers strive to improve range conditions every day,” said PLC President Tim Canterbury. “To help boost these management efforts, data is needed to help ranchers make decisions on the landscape and this MOU will allow BLM and grazing permittees to better share the information that is key to those management efforts.”
The MOU will provide a clear path for more efficient data colleciton and information sharing between grazing permittees and the BLM, the agency said.
PLC signed a similar MOU with the U.S. Forest Service in 2022. “These monitoring activities have proven to be integral factors in the decisions grazing permittees make to keep rangelands healthy and resilient through grazing activities,” BLM said.
The MOU is in effect until January 2031.
2026 grazing fee
USDA also announced the federal grazing fee for 2026, which will be $1.69 per animal unit month (AUM) on BLM or USFS lands. This marks an increase of 34 cents from last year’s fee, which was $1.35 per AUM. The new fee will take effect March 1 and applies to nearly 18,000 BLM permits and nearly 5,550 USFS permits across 16 western states.
The fee is calculated each year using a 1966 base value of $1.23/AUM and factoring in current private grazing land lease rates, beef cattle prices and the cost of livestock production. Under the Public Rangelands Improvement Act, the grazing fee cannot be below $1.35 per AUM and any change cannot exceed 25% of the previous year’s level. — Anna Miller Fortozo, WLJ managing editor
