Two new reports reveal that the Bureau of Land Management has renewed livestock grazing permit on public lands in Oregon without performing an environmental analysis.
The reports were released earlier this month by the Western Watersheds Project, and the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (both non-profit environmental advocacy groups).
In its ReportWestern Watersheds discovered that the bureau had repeatedly renewed permits to allow livestock to graze on public lands in Oregon without performing new environmental assessments. This is a requirement for renewal of permits under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
The Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility FoundThe bureau was allowing grazing in areas that were not meeting state land health standards or had been overgrazed. Overgrazing rangelands can cause desert conditions on semi-arid rangelands and harm other wildlife.
According to the bureau it performs annual assessments not related to permit renewal.
A NEPA assessment is a labor-intensive and time-consuming process, Sarah Bennett, chief of public affairs at the BLMs for Oregon and Washington, explained to the Capital Chronicle. Our goal is to maintain the proper functioning of rangelands.
Renewal without an onsite investigation
The Bureau of Land Management is responsible for permitting on approximately 14 million acres of rangeland in Oregon and Washington. Every 10 years, grazing permits are renewed.
Mountain Spring, Oregon has been home to 2,470 cattle that have been allowed to graze on federal land since the 1970s.
In its analysis, Western Watersheds found that the site in Mountain Spring hadn’t received an onsite environmental assessment since 1999. According to Western Watersheds, other BLM grazing areas in Oregon had not received a complete assessment since the 1970s. This meant that permits for grazing had been renewed four to five more times over the years without federal officials visiting the sites to conduct a full assessment. Officials check for the abundance of native animal and plant life in grazing areas and the impact of animals congregating close to rivers and streams.
Bennett stated that the bureau regularly monitors and assesses grazing land through ten regional offices throughout the state.
She said that rangeland specialists, as well as range technicians, go out often to inspect the land and to keep an eye on how many animals an allotment supports to ensure their health.
Matt McElligott (chair of the Oregon Cattlemens Association public lands Committee) According to the BLM, all grazing areas in eastern Oregon that are managed by it are visited annually by representatives from their local offices. The association represents more Oregon ranchers than 10,000
McElligott explained that someone often visits the land before and after grazing season in order to assess the health of the land, particularly around rivers and streams where cattle tends to congregate.
McElligott stated that the idea of being granted a permit and then 10 years pass without anyone looking at the ground again is not true.
He stated that most ranchers only go through the full assessment if there are significant changes such as the addition of livestock or the lighting of a fire.
McElligott stated that it is not necessary unless there has been a dramatic event.
Adam Brownstein (director of Oregon and Nevada operations for Western Watersheds) said that vulnerable animal species are subject to a high price when there is no onsite inspection for decades.
He said that grazing can have a negative impact on the native bighorn sheep, antelope and fish like cutthroat, red band trout, and other species. Brownstein said that the exceptions that allow bureau to delay or omit onsite environmental analysis are a rubber stamp for these issues. They don’t look at issues that are already compounding on the landscape.
Public concerns can only be expressed during the renewal process through the environmental assessments. According to Western Watersheds analysis, 82% of Oregon’s grazing permits that were granted on BLM-managed land in Oregon were renewed during the last decade without an environmental assessment.
Brownstein stated that this means that the public was excluded from the renewal process of permit renewals. BLM is choosing not to look the other direction.
Grazing standards
Each state has its own environmental standards regarding grazing on public land. Shrubs must be kept at a specific height or allowed to have a limited amount of bare soil.
According to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, Oregon’s 5 million acres of federal land used for cattle grazing didn’t meet state health standards for one or two reasons. This is about half the total grazing land that the bureau manages in Oregon.
The land was often overgrazed in many of these areas. Chandra Rosenthal is the director of the Rocky Mountain office for the groups in Colorado. She said that the bureau is abandoning its central responsibility to maintain public lands for all time.
BLM is the largest national land management agency. Rosenthal stated that we can count on this agency for managing these vast swathes of land that are essential to biodiversity, maintaining native species health, and public recreation. Rosenthal also said that the agency is able to provide the services that we need to ensure that the future generations have access to the resources they need. They continue to graze cattle and sheep on land that doesn’t meet agency standards.
Manufacture shortage
Both environmental groups as well as the Cattlemens Association believe that the BLM requires more resources.
Are they understaffed? McElligott agreed that they need more staff. McElligott stated that making every renewal of grazing permits subject to a full environmental assessment would add more burden to them.
McElligott stated that it would be a waste both of time and money.
Rosenthal is optimistic that the Biden administration will provide more resources for the agency.
We understand that they want to increase the capacity. Rosenthal stated that there have been many cuts under the Trump administration. What our research shows is that the agency doesn’t have the capacity to do what they need to do. There aren’t enough people on the ground.
Bennett stated that the agency is determined to do all it can with what it has.
Congress determines our resources. We are trying to fulfill our mandates with the resources that we have to the best extent.
