Interior Secretary Burgum Signs Order to Expand Grazing on Federal Lands as U.S. Cattle Herd Sits at a 75-Year Low
The Department of the Interior announced on October 27 that Secretary Doug Burgum signed a Secretary's Order that day to expand grazing opportunities on federal lands and improve the health of federal rangelands, implementing President Trump's executive order "Supporting America's Ranchers" with the goals of increasing domestic meat production and lowering consumer costs; the department said the national cattle herd is at its lowest level in 75 years.
The order formalizes the Rangeland Health Initiative: the Bureau of Land Management, the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Reclamation must identify lands available for grazing within 30 days, reinstate suspended allotments and use new technology to clear the backlog of grazing-permit renewals, while the BLM must present a plan within 60 days to eliminate its renewal backlog. Grazing permits are to be renewed for the full 10-year term, the department will publish a department-wide map of grazing-available lands and streamline applications, and policies that limit ranchers' ability to protect livestock from predators will be reviewed. Managed grazing is also to be used to reduce catastrophic wildfire risk and control invasive grasses, with improved coordination with the USDA Forest Service.
Burgum said America's ranchers are stewards of the public lands and that the order restores "the promise of our working landscapes," allowing families that have grazed federal lands for generations to keep operating and expand production.
Source: GSM News.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 内政部长道格·伯古姆（右）在内政部办公室，美国内政部官方照片（公共领域，维基共享资源）
