The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) has changed its rules to be consistent with those of the Bureau of Land Management regarding the provision to waive excess and unauthorized grazing fees when excess or unauthorized grazing is determined to be a result of unforeseen or uncontrollable circumstances.
“Livestock managers and ranchers work alongside the Forest Service and are valuable contributors to conserving open spaces and ensuring that forest and grassland resources are managed sustainably,” said USFS Chief Randy Moore. “These changes provide the agency the needed flexibility to take into account the honest efforts of ranchers who do their best to uphold their responsibilities on grazing lands.”
USFS issued the decision following a 2016 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report recommending the agency record all incidents of unauthorized grazing, including those resolved informally, as well as revise the excess and unauthorized grazing penalty structure to reflect the commercial value of forage.
The GAO report also recommended USFS revise the regulation to allow the option to resolve excess and unauthorized grazing use without charging fees in some instances or to follow the existing regulations by determining and assessing a grazing use penalty for all unauthorized and excess use.
“Providing Forest Service line officers the authority to waive excess and unauthorized use fees, when certain conditions are met, provides the needed flexibility to resolve incidents using a common-sense approach that minimizes conflict,” USFS said in an email to the Associated Press (AP). “The economic activity generated from ranching is the lifeblood of many rural communities.”
The final rule allows USFS to waive the fees under the following criteria:
• The excess or unauthorized use was due to unforeseen or uncontrollable circumstances on behalf of the permittee or nonpermittee, and the livestock were removed within the time frame required by the authorized officer.
• The forage consumed by the excess or unauthorized use is not significant.
• USFS lands have not been damaged significantly by excess or unauthorized use.
Kaitlynn Glover, executive director of the Public Lands Council and National Cattlemen’s Beef Association Natural Resources, told AP the new rule provides clarity for situations such as cattle that may have been left behind on an allotment, cattle wandering into an area where the rancher does not have a permit due to an open gate, or having a fence knocked over.
“All the new rule does is allow for human or Mother Nature error,” Glover said. “To say that it gives anyone a free pass, or to intimate that it does, is not an honest assessment.”
Erik Molvar, the executive director for Western Watersheds Project, told AP the new rule creates loopholes to allow unauthorized grazing to continue, and “It illustrates the fact that this is an agency that does very little to manage livestock on public lands.”
Molvar stated unauthorized grazing “is still chronically happening all over the West.”
The Office of Management and Budget conducted a cost-benefit analysis of the regulatory action and its alternatives to determine the anticipated number of excess or unauthorized use cases eligible for fee waivers under the final rule. The agency used data from 2017-20 on the number of livestock, the duration the livestock were on USFS lands and the total amount of head months associated with the excess or unauthorized use cases.
According to the notice published in the Federal Register, authorized grazing in 2020 for USFS’ four western regions accounted for 88 percent of total authorized use on National Forest System lands. These regions encompass the states of Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming.
The agency believes “though benefits have not been monetized, the rule will have positive net benefits due to the improved relationships and more timely resolution of excess and unauthorized use to minimize resource damage,” as stated in the Federal Register.
The new rule takes effect on Aug. 8. — Charles Wallace, WLJ editor
