Public Grazing

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Public Grazing

• Interface between
• Nature and Supper

2
Is the Bureau of Land Management Preserving our
Public Lands?

• Rachel Jones
• Alexis Peterson
• Chris Styer
• Mike Wilson

3
A Long History of Public Land Use

• 1785 Congress issued survey ordinances for
  western land expansion
• 1872 Enactment of Homesteading Laws and Mining
  Law
• Late 1800s Creation of the first national
  parks and rangelands
• - www.blm.gov

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• These lands (west of the 100th meridian) are
  practically unsaleable under existing laws, and
  the suggestion is worthy of consideration that a
  system of leasehold tenure would make them a
  source of profit to the United States, while at
  the same time legalizing the business of cattle
  raising which is at present carried on upon
  them.
• -President Hayes address to Congress, 1877
• - Foss, 1959

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Taylor Grazing Actto stop injury to the public
grazing lands by preventing overgrazing and soil
deterioration, to provide for their orderly use,
improvement and development and to stabilise
the livestock industry dependent upon the public
range. - Congress 1934
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Taylor Grazing Act

• 1934 Established the U.S. Grazing Service
• First effort to regulate livestock grazing on
  public lands
• Created grazing districts and a permit system
• -http//ipl.unm.edu/cwl/fedbook/taylorgr.html

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Taylor Grazing Act

• The Act requires that a hearing be held in the
  state before grazing districts are created
• There must be public notice and the location is
  to be convenient for state officials, settlers,
  residents and livestock owners of the vicinity
• - http//ipl.unm.edu/cwl/fedbook/taylorgr.html

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Taylor Grazing Act

• Provide for the protection, administration,
  regulation and improvement of the grazing
  districts
• Preserve the land and resources from destruction
  or unnecessary injury provide for orderly
  improvement and development of the range
• Continue the study of erosion and flood control
  and perform work to protect and rehabilitate
  areas subject to the Act
• - http//ipl.unm.edu/cwl/fedbook/taylorgr.html

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BLM Mission Statement

• To sustain the health, diversity and
  productivity of the public lands for the use and
  enjoyment of present and future generations.
• - www.blm.gov

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Bureau of Land Management

• Created in 1946 when U.S. Grazing Service merged
  with the General Land Office
• Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976
  unified land management laws and regulations
  under the BLM
• FLPMA declared the lands under Public Ownership
  so that the lands would be utilized to meet the
  needs of Americans
• - www.blm.gov

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Bureau of Land Management

• BLM manages approximately 261 million surface
  acres
• 160 million acres of this land is authorized for
  grazing by 15,000 livestock operations
• - www.blm.gov

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• www.blm.gov

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Bureau of Land Management

• Arizona
• California
• Colorado
• Idaho
• Montana
• Nevada

• New Mexico
• (OK, KS, TX)
• Oregon
• Utah
• Wyoming

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BLM Grazing Permits Leases

• Permits issued after assessment of land by
  authorized BLM officer
• Documentation of forage availability, land
  health, sustained yield, and environmental values
  
• Animal unit month and land plans must be
  established between the officer and the permitee
• - www.blm.gov

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BLM Grazing Permits Leases

• Land can be deemed unusable after assessment by
  BLM officer
• Land must be allowed time for re-growth, and if
  necessary intervention, before re-assessment for
  grazing uses
• - www.blm.gov

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BLM Grazing Permits Leases

• Of the allotments deemed unsatisfactory for
  livestock grazing
• 15 of the allotments did not meet standards due
  to existing livestock grazing
• 7 of the allotments did not meet standards due
  to factors other than existing livestock grazing
• - www.blm.gov

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Animal Unit Month

• A months use and occupancy of range by
• 1 cow, bull, steer, heifer, horse, burro or
  mule
• 5 sheep or 5 goats
• -www.blm.gov

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Animal Unit Month

• The animal unit month is calculated based on age
  of livestock entering public lands and a prorated
  daily usage fee.
• No charge for livestock lt 6 months of age until
  they are 1 year of age
• www.blm.gov

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Revenue from BLM Permits

• 2003 collection of livestock grazing permit fees
  for all BLM managed states (minus Texas) resulted
  in direct financial transfer to the states of
  209,281,876.00.
• This money came from 18,186 permits and leases
  and 12,707,702 animal unit months
• -www.blm.gov

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How Does Public Grazing Preserve Our Land?
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What are Rangelands?

• A broad category of land characterized by native
  plant communities that are often associated with
  grazing.
• Rangelands are managed by ecological rather than
  agronomic methods
• - www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfd/library/documents/glossary
  /R.htm

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Grazing is Good!

• Improves Land Conditions
• Decreases Chance of Fires
• Improves Wildlife Habitat
• Improves Watershed Topography

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Improves Land Conditions

• Steady improvement of public lands due to grazing
• Controls non-native plant populations
• Decreases erosion
• Seed spreading

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Improves Wildlife Habitat

• Cattle increases amount of immature forage
• Increases diversity of plant species
• Opens up dense vegetation
• Creates dusting sights for upland game birds

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Decreases Brush Fires

• Grazing of under growth
• Decreases dry dead plants
• Removal of dense vegetation

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Improved Watershed Topography

• Watershed A land mass that drains into a body of
  water
• Lake
• Stream
• River
• Pond

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Improved Watershed Topography

• Increases plant growth
• Fertilization of the land
• Breakdown of gully sides
• decrease erosion

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Revenue from Public Grazing

• Money from grazing permits and fees is given back
  to the land for
• Management of Land Resources
• Land Acquisition
• Range Improvements
• Wildland Fire Preparedness/Operations

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Do BLM Grazing Practices Actually Hurt Our
Land?
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Cons of Public Grazing

• Soil Erosion Desertification
• Deforestation
• Water Scarcity
• Water Pollution
• Global Warming
• Loss of Biodiversity

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Soil Erosion and Desertification

• Caused directly by cattle and other livestock
  overgrazing.
• Can also be caused by over cultivation (farming)
  of land, improper irrigation techniques, and
  deforestation. Cattle production is a primary
  factor in each of these cases.

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Soil Erosion and Desertification

• Cattle production is turning productive land into
  barren desert in Western America and throughout
  the world.
• According to a 1991 United Nations report as much
  as 85 of U.S. Western rangeland, nearly 685
  million acres is being degraded and overgrazed.
• Fact
• Each pound of feedlot steak costs about 35 pounds
  of eroded American topsoil.

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Water Scarcity

• Nearly half of the total amount of water used
  annually in the U.S. goes to grow feed and
  provide drinking water for cattle and other
  livestock.
• U.S. fresh water reserves have declined as a
  result of excess water use for cattle and
  livestock.
• U.S. water shortages, especially in the west
  have now reached critical level. (Overdrafts now
  exceed replenishment by 25)

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Water Scarcity

• The Ogallaia aquifer, one of the worlds largest
  fresh water reserves, is already half depleted in
  Kansas, Texas and New Mexico.
• Some U.S. reservoirs and aquifers are now at
  their lowest levels since the last Ice Age.
• Fact
• Producing a pound of grain-fed steak requires the
  use of 100 gallons of water

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Water Pollution

• Organic waste from cattle and other livestock,
  pesticides, chemical fertilizers and agricultural
  salts are the primary non-point source of water
  pollution in the U.S.
• The erosion of sediment from livestock trampling
  into the streams and rivers widens and shallows
  out the water system, decreasing fish population,
  and disrupting the subsequent food chain

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Global Warming

• Cattle and beef production emit three of the four
  global warming gases-Carbon dioxide, nitrous
  oxide, and methane.
• Carbon dioxide is also generated by the fuel used
  in the highly mechanized agricultural production.
• Petrochemical fertilizers used to produce feed
  crops for grain-fed cattle releases nitrous
  oxide.
• Fact
• The use of fertilizers have increased
  dramatically from 14 million tons in 1950 to 143
  million tons in 1989. (Worldwide)

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Loss of Biodiversity

• U.S. cattle production has caused a significant
  loss of biodiversity on public lands.
• According to the U.S. General Accounting Office
  (GAO) more plant species in the U.S. have been
  eliminated or threaten by livestock grazing then
  by any other cause.
• Riparian zones - narrow strips of land that run
  alongside rivers and streams where most flora
  and fauna are concentrated and are hit hardest by
  livestock.

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Loss of Biodiversity

• According to the Arizona State Parks Department
  more than 90 of the original riparian zones of
  Arizona and New Mexico are gone.
• The GAO reports that this is due to poorly
  managed livestock grazing.

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Loss of Biodiversity

• Wild animals are also disappearing for the range
  due to competition for food from domestic
  livestock.
• According to the GAO
• Pronghorn have decreased from 15 mil a century
  ago to less than 271,000
• Bighorn sheep once 2 mil, now under 20,000
• Elk has plummeted from 2 mil to less than
  455,000.

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Loss of Biodiversity

• Because of the production of cattle grazing on
  public lands the U.S. government has also
  exterminated tens of thousands of predators
  every year.
• In 1989 the U.S. Department of Agricultural
  Wildlife Services (formerly Animal Damage
  Control) killed
• 86,502 coyotes
• 7,158 foxes
• 236 black bears
• 1,120 bobcats
• 80 wolves

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Loss of Biodiversity

• In 1988 Wildlife Services killed
• 4.6 million birds
• 9,000 beavers
• 76,000 coyotes
• 5,000 raccoons
• 300 black bear
• 200 mountain lions
• Approximately 400 companion dogs
• Approximately 100 companion cats
• (inadvertently killed)
• Extermination methods include poisoning,
  shooting, gassing and burning animals out of
  their dens

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Loss of Biodiversity

• Tens of thousand of wild horses and burros have
  been rounded up by the federal government because
  ranchers claim they compete with their cattle for
  forage. The horses and burros are held in corral,
  costing taxpayer millions of dollars per year.
  Many wild horses have also ended up at the
  slaughter house.
• The predator control programs U.S. taxpayers
  29.4 million a year. (More than the amount of
  livestock losses caused by wild animals)
• Keith Schneider, Meditating the Federal War of
  the Jungle
• Fun Fact Rape of Mother Earth.com

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The BLM is Trying to Adjust Regulations so
that Everyone is HappyWill it Work?
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Voluntary Grazing Buyout Act

• The proposed buyout program intends to remove
  livestock grazing from public land with the
  purpose of improving range health. The proposed
  program would allow ranchers to voluntary
  relinquish their grazing permits to the
  government in exchange for monetary
  compensation.
• PI Jack Ward Thomas, College of Forestry and
  Conservation, University of Montana, Missoula, MT
  50812

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Voluntary Grazing Buyout Act

• Government buys-out grazing permits from ranchers
  
• Those areas would no longer be able to be grazed
  by any livestock
• This would allow for restoration of the land and
  water resources
• Money for buyout is supplied through taxes

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Voluntary Grazing Buyout Act

• Compensation
• Each rancher that voluntary sells there grazing
  permits receives 175.00 per animal unit month
  (AUM)
• Example 300 cow/calf pairs that graze for 4
  months (300x4) 210,000.00

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New Regulations

• Attempt to Increase the Publics Involvement in
  Decision Making Processes
• Attempt to Meet Challenge of New Pressures and
  Demands as the Western U.S. Population Explodes

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New Regulations
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New Regulations

• Decrease grazing use of about 10
• Over a five year period
• Prevents over stocking

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New regulations

• Requires BLM to include grazing boards
  established by tribes, states, and local
  government in grazing allotment management plans
  

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New regulations

• Gives the BLM more time to analyze and formulate
  a course of action in cases where grazing
  practices are at issue
• Now get 24 months
• Gives more opportunity to correct bad grazing
  practices

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New Regulations

• Increase certain service fees to reflect a more
  accurate cost of grazing
• Issuance of live stock crossing
• Transfer of grazing preference
• Cancellation and replacement of grazing fee bills
  

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Is This Enough???

• Do the new grazing practices meet the challenge
  of sustaining our public lands for our generation
  and those to come?
• Is wildlife loss inevitable with or without
  livestock grazing as the United States
  population grows?
• What Do You Think?