BLM and Forest Service Shock America with Grazing Fee Announcement
by R.T. Fitch ~ president/co-founder of Wild Horse Freedom Federation
“The Numbers do NOT Add Up!”
Privately owned welfare cattle being herded onto public land and wild horse habitat ~ photo by Terry Fitch of Wild Horse Freedom Federation
Tighten up your girth and grab a hold of your saddle horn, America, as this is going to be a real shocker.
The official word is out (drum roll please); the Federal grazing fee for 2014 will be $1.35 per animal unit month (AUM) for public lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management and $1.35 per head month (HM) for lands managed by the U.S. Forest Service. The 2014 fee is (DOINK) the same as last year’s and has not changed for decades. Welfare ranching continues to be endorsed by the federal government.
The following is for your information:
An AUM or HM – treated as equivalent measures for fee purposes – is the use of public lands by one cow and her calf, one horse, or five sheep or goats for a month. The newly calculated grazing fee, determined by a congressional formula and effective on March 1, applies to nearly 18,000 grazing permits and leases administered by the BLM and more than 8,000 permits administered by the Forest Service.
The formula used for calculating the grazing fee, which was established by Congress in the 1978 Public Rangelands Improvement Act, has continued under a presidential Executive Order issued in 1986. Under that order, the grazing fee cannot fall below $1.35 per AUM, and any increase or decrease cannot exceed 25 percent of the previous year’s level.
The annually determined grazing fee is computed by using a 1966 base value of $1.23 per AUM/HM for livestock grazing on public lands in Western states. The figure is then calculated according to three factors – current private grazing land lease rates, beef cattle prices, and the cost of livestock production. In effect, the fee rises, falls, or stays the same based on market conditions, with livestock operators paying more when conditions are better and less when conditions have declined.
The 2014 grazing fee of $1.35 per AUM/HM grazing fee applies to 16 Western states on public lands administered by the BLM and the Forest Service. The states are Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.
Sheep covering Adobe Town HMA ~ photo by Carol Walker of Wild Horse Freedom Federation
Now these two agencies claim that there is not enough room on our public lands for federally protected wild horses and burros, lets take a look at the numbers compiled by Carla Bowers back in 2011.
– 38,500: BLM reported total of WH&B population (as of 2/28/11, not validated)
– 26,600: BLM high AML (appropriate management level) for WH&B population
– 16,000-18,000 BLM actual current targeted low AML for WH&B population
– 21,354: WH&B population as of 2/28/11 using BLM’s own data& 20% growth model (independent analysis)
– 240,000-480,000: Approximate head of livestock on WH&B management areas
– Up to 3M livestock on BLM lands
– Up to 1.5M livestock on USFS lands
– 20 million mule deer, 1 million elk, 700,000+ pronghorns, 70,000 bighorns (considered a “species of concern”) on Federal, state & private lands
– 245 million: Number of acres BLM currently manages
– 160 million: Number of BLM acres allocated to livestock use
– 53.8 million: Number of BLM& private acres originally designated for WH&B in 1971
– 31.6million: Number of BLM & private acres currently managed for WH&B
– 22.2 million: Number of acres WH&B have lost since 1971
– 27 million: Number of BLM acres currently allocated to WH&B use (with livestock)
– 11%: Amount of BLM land currently designated for WH&B use
– 83%: Amount of forage allocated to livestock in BLM WH&B areas
– 17%: Amount of forage allocated to WH&B in BLM WH&B areas
– 339: Number of BLM original Herd Areas designated for WH&B in 1971
– 179: Number of BLM reduced-size Herd Management Areas currently designated for WH&B
– 160: Number of WH&B Herd Areas BLM has zeroed-out
– 193 million: Number of acres USFS currently manages
– 91 million: Number of USFS acres allocated to livestock use
– 2 million: Number of USFS acres allocated to WH&B use (with livestock)
– 1.04%: Amount of USFS land currently designated for WH&B use
– 650 million: Number of Federal land acres
– 4.5%: Amount of Federal land acres (BLM/USFS) designated for WH&B use (with livestock)
Costs to Taxpayers:
– $75.7 million: FY2011 total cost of BLM’s WH&B Program
– $11.4 million: FY2011 cost of roundups, including fertility control
– $48.2 million: FY2011 cost of BLM warehousing WH&B
– $766,164: FY2010 cost of BLM WH&B census & range monitoring (3.3% of budget)
– $144-500 million: FY2011 cost of livestock grazing program
– $13 million: FY2011 cost of predator control program to benefit livestock
Wild Horse grazing among private, welfare cattle on Adobe Town HMA ~ photo by Carol Walker of Wild Horse Freedom Federation
Which all begs the following questions:
– Considering the above numbers, is it fair to claim WH&B are overpopulated in America?
– Why is livestock allocated the majority of forage on WH&B legal areas?
– How does BLM arrive at AML for WH&B versus livestock on WH&B legal areas?
– Is WH&B genetic viability & survival of healthy, self-sustaining herds considered at all in AML establishment?
– Shouldn’t the above requirement be the first consideration in WH&B AML establishment before forage allocations are set on WH&B legal areas?
– What is the best mechanism to correct the insufficient & unfair allocations between livestock & WH&B on WH&B legal areas?
– How is damage to the range studied exactly& how much time is dedicated to monitoring?
– How is it determined unequivocally what animals did any range damage, i.e., WH&B, livestock or other wildlife?
And to further pour salt upon our wounds last Friday, January 31st, the budget strapped BLM released not one but two $6 million contracts to secure the cruel services of helicopter companies to chase and roundup federally protected wild horses and burros only to cram the captured equines into overloaded short term and long term holding facilities at YOUR expense.
Ain’t it great….NOT!!!