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RCI urges caution on DOI/BLM grazing-rule rewrite, flags water-rights language
Summary
Resource Concepts, Inc. told the committee that proposed DOI/BLM grazing-rule changes include broader carrying-capacity definitions, remote sensing requirements, and draft water-rights language that RCI fears could assign stock water rights to the United States rather than permittees; the DOI/BLM comment period is open through July 13.
Jeremy Drew of Resource Concepts, Inc. briefed the committee on proposed DOI and BLM grazing regulation provisions, saying the agencies propose new terminology and definitions for prescribed and targeted grazing and an expanded concept of carrying capacity. Drew warned that the shift away from livestock-specific carrying-capacity language could be difficult to apply in Nevada where conditions change with precipitation.
He also said the draft rules would require remote sensing for rapid land-health assessments and remove specific rangeland health standards in favor of broader, landscape- or watershed-based criteria. Of particular concern, he said, was language that could result in stock water rights being issued in the name of the United States — a change he described as inconsistent with state practice — and encouraged the committee to consider comment before the July 13 deadline.
