Grazing Management

What this funds

Table FS-48. Grazing Management Details Table (thousands of dollars) Grazing Management - Justification of Changes allow the Forest Service to continue the administration of rangeland resources and make progress towards the implementation of the USDA-DOI Grazing Action Plan 7 on almost 40 percent of the 193 million acres of NFS lands across 27 states. Grazing Management - Status of Programs The Forest Service administers 5,500 permittees with 1.3 million acres authorized for cattle and 800,000 animal unit months 8 for sheep. Livestock grazing on federal lands is integral to rural economies, especially in the Western United States. In managing livestock grazing, the Forest Service creates range allotment management plans, administers a grazing permit system to ensure compliance with federal laws, prepares and processes bills for fee collection, develops annual operating instructions based on up-to-date conditions on the ground, and ensures compliance with the permits. The Forest Service works with range permittees to maintain or move toward healthy and productive rangelands across 85 million In FY 2025, the Forest Service completed updates to the majority of its Rangeland Management policy directives. These policy revisions are designed to remove barriers to beginning ranchers and provide more transparent and efficient processes for permittees. Updates to the final Rangeland Management directives, Tribal Treaty and Non-Treaty Grazing Use, will be completed in FY 2026 and the Forest Service will collaborate with The Forest Service continues to incorporate new technologies such as virtual fencing, resulting in fewer physical fences across the landscape. This improvement has the potential to improve grazing administration, facilitate wildlife movement, and more efficiently use 8 One animal unit month equates to the amount of forage required to support a mature 1,000-pound cow or its forage. The use of virtual fences is a cost-effective, efficient way to graze cattle, however virtual fencing does not replace all wire fencing. There are some areas and terrain that do not support this technology, for instance areas of high mountains with steep slopes. In this example, the signal from the collar would not be able to transmit to the receiver and the cow would be able to escape the boundary. Buy-in from grazing permittees is also required for virtual fence to be effective. Though many have found success with this technology, there are others who wish to manage livestock more traditionally (i.e., horseback, fences, The grazing management program transitioned vacant grazing allotments to active status through issuance of Term Grazing Permits, thus providing stability to agricultural industries and rural communities, with several vacant allotments restocked in FY 2025 and more expected in FY 2026. The program also provided guidance to support on-the-ground implementation of the revised directives as well as realizing efficiencies from the updated The top priority is to implement the USDA-DOI Grazing Action Plan to ensure a sustainable supply of forage for livestock by partnering with ranchers and producers, sustaining water resources, offering recreational opportunities, and providing wildlife habitat throughout the rangelands that the Forest Service stewards. The Forest Service will partner with permittees to expand targeted grazing as a vegetation management tool to control invasive species and The Range Program funds will focus on administering the 5,500 term permits for livestock grazing and implementing the Secretary's direction in the USDA-DOI Grazing Action Plan to provide an improved experience for permittees. The Plan prioritizes expanding coordination and cooperation with grazing permittees and the Bureau of Land Management to streamline grazing authorizations; permitting vacant allotments; and incorporating emerging technologies, scientific advancements, and administrative flexibilities where possible. The Forest Service and DOI will jointly assess the viability of vacant grazing allotments and prioritize reopening for permitted use. Access to vacant allotments will be provided through expedited environmental and administrative review with the goal of increasing rangeland availability to help offset feed shortages and expand opportunities for ranchers to rebuild Table FS-49. Hazardous Fuels Details Table (thousands of dollars)

Extracted from Forest Service, p. 59. Verbatim; nothing here is paraphrased.

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