Range Management Suffering

May 14, 2001

The National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) and Public Lands Council (PLC) say the result of a merger of the range management program within the U.S. Forest Service with the Forest Service's forest management plan is "a complete dispersal of livestock grazing and range management priorities within USFS budget and natural resource management programs." The comment came in a letter from the organizations to Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Conrad Burns (R-MT) and House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Joe Skeen (R-NM) on Interior Department fiscal 2002 appropriations priorities.

NCBA Federal Lands Committee chairman Chuck Jones said, "Since there is no longer a director for the range program, there is also no longer any direct emphasis within the USFS budget for range management or clear direction for range personnel. We anticipate this will cause the agency to be slow to react to long-standing resource management issues."

PLC president Paul Frischknecht said, "We, wish to ensure that any money devoted to the program does not exclude livestock grazing. We emphasize that livestock grazing can and should be used as a management tool in both fuel management and post-fire rehabilitation."

NCBA and PLC also stressed that it is essential for the livestock industry to have the BLM grazing permittee renewal language included in the FY 2002 appropriations. The livestock industry requested funding for the USFS federal resource monitoring program be increased. "If the agency fails to adequately monitor the resource, the federal permittees may suffer reductions or even loss of grazing privileges," Jones said.

Also supported by NCBA and PLC are specific appropriations to fund a pilot project for utilizing remote sensing technology to monitor rangeland conditions. "We believe that the rangeland management functions of both BLM and the Forest Service could benefit greatly by using remote sensing technology and existing data to assist with range monitoring activities," Frischknecht said.

The budget calls for a cap of $8.5 million for the endangered species listing program. This is an increase over FY 2001 of 34%. NCBA and PLC suggested that rather than focusing dollars on the listing program, more effort should be devoted to delisting species. On April 6, the Bureau of Reclamation announced its decision to deprive water to the Klamath River Basin due to the Endangered Species Act. As a result, the Basin is in severe economic decline this year. NCBA and PLC requested the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee exercise every opportunity to provide assistance to remedy or relieve this situation.