Groups Call For Coordination
Between Federal Land Agencies

WASHINGTON — More efficiency and stability for both land managers and land users would result if federal agencies reduced overlapping and conflicting federal land-management policies, say the National Cattlemen's Beef Association and the Public Lands Council.

Jeff Menges, a cattle producer from Morenci, Ariz., chairman of the NCBA Federal Lands Committee, and Brent Atkin, a St. George, Utah, cattle producer, president of the PLC, testified at a recent House Resources Committee hearing on federal land management and the impact of cutbacks in permitted grazing.

"We do not need two agencies duplicating administrative actions for the same purpose on the public lands," Menges said. An opinion by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, for instance, can override Bureau of Land Management decisions, such as standards and guidelines for grazing developed under the auspices of BLM Resource Advisory Councils, he noted.

Separate laws implemented by different agencies, such as the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act and the National Historic Preservation Act, often result in instability and confusion because of conflicting opinions and policies for proper land management.

"Considered one at a time, most of the negative effects from these laws probably could be manageable," Atkin said. "However, these negative impacts are cumulative. By the time a rancher is facing requirements from three, four, five or six different statutes, his ability to graze livestock on federal lands is uncertain at best.

"The only thing that is certain is that he will spend more time trying to comply with regulatory requirements than he will spend ranching."

Menges described how a winter grazing program on the Gila River could meet all the requirements of the BLM Standards and Guidelines, but the USFWS could require complete removal of cattle because the land is considered potential habitat for the "endangered" pygmy owl.

"Expanding BLM Resource Advisory Councils to include recommendations to the USFWS should be considered," Menges said.

Atkin pointed out in another example that burning rangeland is necessary for proper management of some types of grasses and shrubs. The BLM and the U.S. Forest Service have adopted policies to improve the approval process for prescribed burns, he said, but now the Environmental Protection Agency is limiting these necessary management activities, citing concerns with the Clean Air Act.

"In my 25 years of dealing with the BLM, I am finding that more and more frequently, land management decisions are being made based on factors not at all related to sound land-management practices, but rather, are caused by the application of other laws," Atkin said. "Most of the problems caused by these laws today are because of how the agencies are administering them."

The Public Lands Council represents permittees who hold leases and permits to graze livestock on the federal lands in the West administered by the Bureau of Land Management and the United States Forest Service. It also coordinates the federal-lands policies of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, American Sheep Industry Association and the Association of National Grasslands.