Grazing Rules Move Forward

August 18, 2006 - A federal district court judge decided last Friday to move forward with substantial portions of new grazing regulations released last month by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

In Western Watersheds Project v. Kraayenbrink, U.S. District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill issued a preliminary injunction blocking only the part of the grazing rules that deal with public participation in the rulemaking. But Judge Winmill upheld all other aspects of the regulations - a victory for public lands ranchers.

"BLM's new regulations strike a balance between resource conservation and sustainable public lands ranching," stated Jeff Eisenberg, executive director of the Public Lands Council (PLC).

Eisenberg said the American people will benefit from PLC's efforts to defend the new rules because of the countless ways ranchers work to help protect the land and the environment where they graze livestock. Public lands ranchers serve as land managers and conservationists of 235 million acres of public land and also control 107 million acres of private land.

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