“Prevention of wasteful use of a resource.” That definition of conservation from my Oxford dictionary is what Rancher’s must practice to stay in business. It’s perquisite of ranching that we get to enjoy the wildlife that benefits from our conservation practices. The Bureau of Land Management recently proposed a rule towards conservation of our public lands. We should be all about that. We should be thrilled that conservation and all other recognized uses of public lands will be on equal footing, as livestock grazing often is not on equal footing with other uses. The proposal is concerning though. I could fill this entire publication with concerns, but to save some trees, I’ll pare them down to three:
#1 Collaboration. We are to believe that the Federal Land Policy and Management act compels the BLM to roll out this rule in the fashion they did. It’s mind-boggling that a piece of policy of this scope only requires a short comment period of input.
#2 Unintended consequences. Also mind-boggling is the number of collaborative groups that exist in the West now. A thing they pretty much all have in common is that they exist to try to figure out creative solutions to navigate the unintended consequences of policy. To be sure, obstructive groups that profit from litigating agencies see a lot of opportunity in this proposal and that will lead to unintended consequences that will lead to the opposite of this proposal and further tie the hands of our agency folks, and likely reduce all other access to our public lands.
#3 Capacity. The Bureau of Land Management hasn’t the capacity to do the work they have in front of them right now. There are so many layers of policy they have to navigate that it’s nearly impossible to get anything done.
This proposal may be the best example of why your membership in the Nevada Cattlemen’s Association is so important. Rest assured; we will be putting all our resources on this one.
Jon Griggs
President, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association