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Share your perspective during public comment periods that impact public lands ranching.

 

PLC actively monitors regulatory proposals from federal agencies and alerts you to open comment periods. Want to get the latest regulatory information straight to your inbox? Contact us to sign up for PLC policy updates as they happen.

BLM Opens Public Comment on Amendments to West-Wide Solar Plan

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has released their draft programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and associated Resource Management Plan Amendments (RMPA) to revise and expand upon the 2012 Western Solar Plan. Click here to access the text of the documents and the comment portal.

PLC remains concerned about priority siting of solar/wind on prime grazing ground, as opposed to already-degraded landscapes, any reprioritization or preference given to energy development on wide tracts of land, ecological impacts like spread of invasive species and loss of soil diversity.

The public comment period will close April 18, 2024. PLC will lead industry response through technical comments. Contact us with questions or state specific concerns.

EXTENDED: USFWS Opens Comment Period on Proposed Changes to National Wildlife Refuge System Policies

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has proposed a number of changes to their biological integrity, diversity, and ecological health (BIDEH) policies.

The National Wildlife Refuge System encompasses 95 million land acres; about 519,952 acres are enrolled in prescribed grazing projects, and about 61,363 are in grassland mowing and haying. The vast majority of System lands fall in Alaska; other hot spots include Montana, Nevada, Oregon, New Mexico, and Arizona. The proposed BIDEH action is both a draft rule and a policy change in the Service Manual. USFWS is pursuing a two-track revision because although they have had some iteration of BIDEH policy on the books since 2001, they have never promulgated BIDEH regulations to codify it.

PLC is concerned that this action,

  • Promotes the elimination of cooperative agriculture projects in favor of "natural processes." The draft rule implicitly and incorrectly asserts that prescribed grazing is not compatible with "conservation, restoration, and connectivity to meet refuge habitat objectives and landscape planning goals."
  • Promotes continued land acquisition by the federal government, impacting the availability, price, and tax status of productive acres.
  • Endorses the "conservation translocation" of species, including to areas beyond their current or historical range. This could easily be tied to further establishment of 10(j) populations of T&E species.
  • Downgrades the vital role of prescribed grazing in cultivating healthy habitat by saying, "Where we do not need to use farming or other agricultural practices to meet statutory requirements, fulfill refuge purposes, and ensure BIDEH, we appropriately cease the activity."

The public comment period will close May 6, 2024. PLC will be submitting grazing industry comments.

BLM Opens Comment on Greater Sage-Grouse Plans, draft Environmental Impact Statement.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has released the draft Environmental Impact Statement (dEIS) and corresponding Resource Management Plan Amendment (RMPA) related to sage grouse habitat management on federal lands. The RMPA would amend 77 separate land use plans currently in place across 10 Western states, and some of the alternatives in the draft EIS include new Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) designations totaling as many as 11.1 million acres.

The BLM has proposed six alternatives for analysis as part of the dEIS. The public comment period on the dEIS is scheduled to close June 13, 2024.

Simultaneously, the BLM has opened a comment period on the RMPA, particularly the elements related to ACECs. Public comment on the ACEC portion is scheduled to close on May 14, 2024.

PLC believes a 60-day public comment period for elements of the RMPA and a 90-day comment period for the dEIS are insufficient to review the volumes of text proposed, particularly given the long history of uncertainty stemming from the 2015 and 2019 plans. All documents are now available for public review on the BLM's sage grouse project website.

PLC has requested a comment period extension and will continue to lead the grazing industry response to both elements.

BLM will also host 13 public meetings on the plans. Meetings begin April 9 and continue through April 25. Find the nearest public meeting to you on the BLM's meeting website.

Have questions about the plans or want to participate in PLC's Sage Grouse Working Group? Contact us.