Throughout the regulations, the agency proposed changes that would keep the animals on land.
Mark Squillace, a natural resource law professor at the University of Colorado School of Law, noted that if a farmer appeals an adverse ruling, it is automatically stayed, meaning the farmer can continue practices determined to be harmful. “It effectively invites everyone to apply to avoid the decision,” Squillace said. “It’s a disaster.”
New rules too raising the status of cows as fire fightersmakes it easier to place herds on public lands on the grounds that they eat vegetation that can fuel wildfires.
Nada Culver, deputy director of the BLM during the Biden administration, said some of the provisions would make it harder for agency staff to tell ranchers to take animals off the land, hindering their ability to address overgrazing. Renewing permits to resume grazing will be easier under the new rules, he said.
“Most of the text in this regulatory proposal is devoted to explaining why the public cannot participate in nearly every step of the process,” Culver said.
The Trump administration has also prioritized restoration of vacant lots because they are far from a water source, lack cows and sheep, need time to recover from wildfires, or the agency is trying to eradicate invasive species. In the months since President Donald Trump returned to the White House, political appointees have instructed staff to compile lists of every vacant lot that could be suitable for more cattle.
“By the end of next year,” Budd-Falen said in his discussion with Lummis, “every vacancy will be filled by a rancher.”
This story was originally published by ProPublica, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up for postsnewsletter covering crime happening across the country to get our stories delivered to your inbox every week.
