To: Senator John McCain, United States Senator for Arizona
From: xxx, Political Aide, United States Senate
Date: March 20, 2018
Re: Finding Better Regulations for Federal Grazing Policy
Federal Grazing issues are a rising problem in the west. With approximately 20% of the United States beef cattle that are raised on the 11 western states, more than half of these animal’s graze on the 270 million acres of Bureau of Land Management lands, which leads to almost 85% of the West’s federal lands are grazed by domestic livestock all or part of the year (Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Grazing Administration pp.1-516). With such a large amount of land that is being used that is controlled by the government, there are a lot of restrictions and regulations that ranchers using the land for grazing purposes have to follow
Ranchers have long complained that the government’s growing control of protecting the environment has led to aggressive restrictions on land that they have used and sustained for generations. This uprising has caused ranchers and activists to take the matter into their own hands. For example, the Bundy Standoff was caused by Cliven Bundy, a cattle rancher in Oregon that was being ordered by the Bureau of Land Management to pay over $1 million in grazing fees for using federally owned land adjacent to Bundy’s ranch in Nevada (Oregon Standoff: Who’s really getting hurt, 2016).
I have created three policy recommendations that might benefit the fight for environmental right while helping ranchers and farmers still survive on their iconic way of life.
• Clearly define environmental regulations and standards that must be followed.
o With clear and easily obtainable environmental regulations there will be less confusion on what the permit holder can and cannot do, the permit holder can be well informed and held responsible for regulations.
An educated user will be more willing to work with government agencies, while there is always a risk of holders not be compliant with regulations the agencies can have a better knowledge of what exactly is taking place and how to handle the situation.
• Allow non-ranchers or non-farmers to gain permits for land.
o When people that do not own livestock are given this opportunity to be a participating member of the movement to help sustain the environment they feel as the government is listening and seeing that this is an issue that they care about. Letting non-ranchers or non-farmers gain permits will help this demographic of people somewhat understand the same problems that ranchers and farmers face.
Letting non-ranchers and non-farmers gain access to permits will cause the “use it or lose it” concept of the original act. There might end up having to be different regulations for this type of permit to be given due to the original act being designed for grazing livestock.
• Create documents that will allow community members to be informed of the impacts of having people gain permits to the land and using it for grazing.
o A public community that is well informed and educated of itself can help create a positive mindset of how it can continue to thrive without causing damage. These documents could come out yearly and be conducted through quantitative and qualitative data.
These reports will require an agency to conduct them. There might be a small number of people willing to go through all of the information, but agencies could have the opportunity to add an internship for those individuals who are willing to put in the hard work and aspire to be participating members of the government and learn valuable skills.
The American rancher is a crucial and integrative part of the foundation of America. Coming from Arizona where cattle ranches are a true and fundamental part of life that must be protected and conserved just as we conserve and protect the environment. Ranchers do not wish to destroy the land, but to rather seek justifiable means to maintain their way of life like the many generations before them. Creating a practical way for politician and ranchers to come to terms and agree on that the environment will help gain the respect of the government and will create bonds that will end up beneficial in future years. If the public community, agriculture community, and government work together to solve the problem of Federal Grazing Policies it will be the start of creating a better world.