PUBLIC LANDS COUNCIL

PRIORITIES IN D.C., AND BEYOND IN 2021

by Kaitlynn Glover, executive director, Public Lands Council

The dawning of each new year brings the promise of a fresh start, of better days ahead. As we began 2020, many of us were looking forward to a year full of progress: the Public Lands Council (PLC) had set goals like modernizing the Endangered Species Act (ESA), making changes to federal grazing regulations to finally lift the harmful realities of “Range Reform of ‘94” and taking intentional steps to improve ranchers’ rightful role in land and resource management.

The year started off well: the Trump administration opened the scoping process to revise Bureau of Land Management (BLM) grazing regulations, the White House started the process to revise National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) guidance and all the agencies had a full agenda for the last year of the Trump term. As the brand new executive irector, I was thrilled to join PLC and get straight to work.

COVID-19 hit the country, and that ambitious agenda, with a force that can only be described as immense. Delays hit every portion of the public lands rancher’s life; from your ability to make your routine trips to town to your ability to have confidence there would be processing capacity for your beef or lamb, the impact of COVID-19 was undeniable. It delayed the regulatory process, too. While the BLM grazing regulations process got off to a promising start, the agency soon was bogged down in personnel and process delays that left us without any tangible progress as the clocked chimed midnight on Jan. 1, 2021. The Forest Service (USFS) handbook and directives changes were similarly delayed, but the agency was able to issue proposed changes at the 11th hour, even though the opportunity for public comment would fall in the early days of the Biden administration.

Despite the immense challenge, the Trump administration made significant progress in other areas. Before the end of 2020, we saw the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) federally delist the gray wolf range-wide. The USFWS also finalized two additional ESA rules, which clarified the agency’s ability to designate critical habitat and allow ranchers to request that allotments or portions of allotments be excluded from critical habitat designations. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized the “Waters of the United States” replacement rule and the White House finalized government-wide guidance telling agencies that NEPA should be a tool for analysis, not paralysis.

As we enter 2021 with a new administration and a new Congress, many of the issues we faced in 2020 linger. COVID-19 response is ongoing. Resource challenges like poor federal horse and burro management, rampant spread of invasive species, and the threat of catastrophic wildfire also remain. This year is a prime example that while all of the context around PLC’s priorities may change, the basic needs of public lands ranchers stay the same: healthy ecosystems, a functional and fair federal system, and a healthy environment in which to sell our product. 60 California Cattleman February 2021

The transition to a Biden administration and a Democrat-held Congress changes the political climate in Washington, D.C. On the first day of his term, President Biden issued a “freeze” on many regulations from the Trump administration and initiated agency review of hundreds more.

New members of Congress jockeyed for positions on key committees to give voice to their constituents on key issues. No matter the committee, however, we know that all policy will face a singular question: “What does this mean for the climate?”

For the next four years, climate will be at the center of every policy conversation. The good news is that public lands ranchers have the best story to tell: the lands you graze are integral for carbon storage. They provide critical habitat for wildlife and forage of all kinds, including endangered species. Your cattle and sheep are the first line of defense against fuel loading that contributes to catastrophic wildfire, and are the first responders when lands scarred by fire are at risk of being overtaken by invasive annuals.

While all of PLC’s priority issues – making ESA and other regulations workable, reducing herds of horses and burros managed by BLM, reducing the risk of catastrophic wildfire, and defending ranching’s cultural heritage – stay the same, the questions asked about each of those subjects changes.

We remain committed to working with Congress to secure additional funding for the BLM to gather, remove, and apply fertility treatments to horses and burros under their management. We continue to tell the good news story of public lands ranching, and demonstrate what a nimble, flexible tool grazing is to achieve land management objectives. We continue to work with partners like the USFWS, Ducks Unlimited, Safari Club International and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, who joined us in signing a memorandum of understanding outlining our shared commitment to active management of landscapes across the country.

PLC’s mission is this: to support and maintain livestock grazing on public lands by advocating for and educating decision makers of the many values livestock grazing contributes to our natural resources and to the public.

From drought to litigation, 2021 is shaping up to be another one for the books. PLC is ready for the fight. We’ve prepared by strengthening relationships with groups across the spectrum, developing clear policy positions and giving voice to producers so your story reverberates through the halls of Congress.