Throughout the regulations, the agency proposed changes that would keep the animals on the land.
Mark Squillace, a law professor focused on natural resources at the University of Colorado School of Law, noted that if a rancher appeals an unfavorable ruling, it is automatically stayed, meaning the rancher can continue the same practices that were deemed harmful. “That effectively invites everyone to appeal to avoid the decision,” Squillace said. “That’s a disaster.”
The new regulations also raise the status of cows as firefightersfacilitating the placement of herds on public lands under the justification that they eat vegetation that could become fuel for forest fires.
Nada Culver, BLM deputy director during the Biden administration, said some provisions would make it harder for agency staff to tell ranchers to remove animals from the land, hampering their ability to address overgrazing. And renewing permits to continue grazing would be even easier under the new regulations, he said.
“Most of the text of this regulatory proposal is dedicated to explaining why the public can no longer participate in virtually every step of the process,” Culver said.
The Trump administration has also prioritized repopulating vacant areas, which may be without cows and sheep because they are far from a water source, need time to recover from wildfires or the agency is trying to eradicate invasive species. Within months of President Donald Trump returning to the White House, political officials ordered staff to make lists of every vacant lot that might be eligible to receive more cattle.
“By the end of next year,” Budd-Falen said in his conversation with Lummis, “every vacant parcel will be occupied by a rancher.”
This story was originally published by ProPublica, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive shipmentsa newsletter highlighting wrongdoing across the country, to get our stories delivered to your inbox every week.
