AMT433- THE PLAN TO REMOVE RANCHERS | Beware of the "WORDING." | As a Man Thinketh

Local Ranchers Warn the Forest Service Is Paving the Way to Limit Grazing

Across the Comanche and Cimarron National Grasslands, ranchers are reading the Forest Service’s draft assessment with unease. Many believe its language—grouping livestock grazing alongside urbanization and industrial disturbance as threats—signals more than just bureaucratic phrasing. They fear it’s the opening move in a slow push to limit or eliminate grazing altogether.
During the public comment period, those concerns were explicit. In her submission on behalf of the Timpas Grazing Association, rangeland consultant Andee Leininger criticized the agency for failing to consult permittees and landowners “for input regarding current ecological conditions, grazing management or vegetation management.” She warned that by relying on remote datasets instead of local monitoring, “the Forest Service is misrepresenting the health of these prairies and undermining the very partners who maintain them.”
At a meeting reported by the Plainsman Herald, permit holders pressed agency officials to clarify whether the assessment was merely diagnostic or a precursor to new restrictions. “We need to know if this is science or policy,” one producer said. “Because what you call a threat today becomes a regulation tomorrow.”
National groups echoed that sentiment. R-CALF USA, in its formal filing, accused the Forest Service of “laying the groundwork for future grazing reductions under the guise of conservation,” warning that broad threat designations could justify allotment cuts without site-specific evidence.
For these producers, the risk isn’t abstract. Once grazing is framed as a problem rather than a process

Categories: Lifestyle

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