The U.S. Department of the Interior has said it will revoke the grazing permits that have allowed American Prairie to run bison on roughly 63,000 acres of federal public land in Montana. This decision would affect seven parcels managed by the Bureau of Land Management in Phillips County, and it would hinder the organization’s larger goals of conserving large swaths of intact grasslands while restoring the native grazers to those landscapes.
The Interior’s rationale for yanking the permits, according to its Jan. 16 proposed decision, is that under the Taylor Grazing Act, the BLM can only issue grazing permits for livestock managed for “production-oriented” purposes. It claims that American Prairie’s emphasis on conservation runs counter to those purposes.
American Prairie CEO Alison Fox criticized this reasoning as both unfair and inconsistent with long-standing public-lands grazing practices in Montana. She said in a response to the decision that it creates uncertainty, not just for American Prairie — which has been grazing bison using federal leases since 2005 — but for all other livestock owners in the West. She added that American Prairie plans to protest the decision and will take further legal action, if necessary.
“This is a slippery slope,” Fox said in a statement shared with Outdoor Life. “When federal agencies begin changing how the rules are applied after the process is complete, it undermines confidence in the system for everyone who relies on public lands. Montana livestock owners deserve clarity, fairness, and decisions they can count on.”
The grazing permits now in limbo were approved by the BLM in 2022 after years of analysis and public comment. The agency noted in its record of decision that the feeding habits of bison could lead to habitat improvements there, and that it had granted similar bison grazing permits on BLM lands in Colorado, North Dakota, Wyoming, and other Western states.
This approval, however, drew intense pushback from industry livestock groups and politicians in Montana, who considered it a radical proposal and an attack on the state’s ranchers. Those same groups challenged the BLM’s approval in court, and they are now celebrating the Interior’s more recent decision — one that was signaled in December, when Interior secretary Doug Burgum used his authority to assume jurisdiction over the long-running legal battle.
under the Taylor Grazing Act, the BLM can only issue grazing permits for livestock managed for “production-oriented” purposes. It claims that American Prairie’s emphasis on conservation runs counter to those purposes.
You can use public lands for profit but not for conservation. Sure dude, whatever. I feel like doing stuff that’s so obviously in the pocket of agribusiness to the detriment of species recovery erodes the kayfabe of governance. “Consent of the governed” being lost, not in a high-minded sense but just because you get enough people going ya, this is foolish and obvious.
Brazenly tooting my own horn because just yesterday I was saying we needed more of what exactly what American Prairie is doing https://hexbear.net/comment/6860488
Am I missing something? Why do wild animals need a permit to graze??
American Prairie is a nature preserve. They’re telling them that they have to move all of the 63k bison that they manage into private lands.
Sure, send an eviction notice to each individual bison. They’re well known for being tolerant and cooperative with bureaucratic vagaries.
So they can’t have nature on a nature preserve?? What. This is mind boggling
oi you got a loicense for that maize?
There is no political constituency I give less of a shit about than ranchers, especially ranchers in Montana.
Did you read the article?! The ruling is that ONLY ranchers can be allowed to graze, and that a focus on conservation was grounds for revocation of grazing rights.
I understand. Stuff like this is why I hate ranchers.
Can we please start calling CHUDs our own version of soyboy?
They want to destroy everything for their “right” to consoom. We believe there are things worth more than that.
“Cumsoomers”?
