Interior Department Proposes New BLM Grazing Rules Focused on Production-Oriented Livestock, Repeals Prior Conservation Rule

Tribes that have treaties with the United States are seeking government-to-government negotiations, though none have been scheduled.

Martin Nie, a professor of public lands and wildlife policy at the University of Montana, said if these rules are finalized as written they will concentrate management of public lands in the hands of the livestock industry. Nie said the proposed rules mark a significant federal retreat from what had been strong affirmative steps to restore bison herds across the Great Plains.

Nie also said the conservation rule had more provisions for tribal input than ever before in the history of the BLM and that it was rescinded without any tribal consultation.

Josh Osher, public policy director of the Western Watersheds Project, said this production-oriented thing is made up from whole cloth. The Interior Department says its proposed grazing policy would give ranchers more flexibility, improve the health of rangelands and support rural communities across the West.

The department’s May 8 announcement on the American Prairie decision assured tribes that the BLM is not adjudicating the rights of any tribal government.

For nearly half a century, BLM grazing permits for indigenous animals had been allowed at the discretion of federal officers working locally. The new regulations include no separate allowance for grazing by indigenous animals. Two California tribes, the Fort Bidwell Indian Community and the Pit River Tribe, are actively seeking BLM grazing leases.

Tribes including the Blackfeet, the Lower Brule Sioux, the Cheyenne River Sioux and the Crow fed thousands of reservation residents by slaughtering bison during the government shutdown last fall. Hunters in the 1800s killed as many as 60 million North American buffalo. There are about half a million bison in the United States now.