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Rangeland Management: Interior's Monitoring Has Fallen Short of Agency Requirements

RCED-92-51 Published: Feb 24, 1992. Publicly Released: Mar 26, 1992.
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Highlights

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO examined the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) performance in: (1) monitoring the impact of grazing on range conditions; and (2) taking action to change grazing conditions when needed.

Recommendations

Matter for Congressional Consideration

Matter Status Comments
A better balance between the scope of the federal grazing program and the resources available to manage it is needed if BLM is to meet all of its rangeland management responsibilities. To achieve this objective, Congress may wish to consider: (1) reducing the scope of the existing grazing program, thereby reducing BLM range management responsibilities; or (2) funding an increase in BLM range management resources. One option for offsetting the additional annual appropriations that would be necessary to increase BLM range management resources is to increase federal grazing fees.
Closed – Implemented
The Administration originally announced on August 9, 1993, that it would impose higher fees and tougher environmental restrictions on ranchers who graze their cattle and sheep on public rangeland. However, the final federal range policy completed in February 1995 deleted grazing fee increases, leaving any grazing fee charges to be determined by Congress.

Full Report

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Topics

ConservationData collectionEnvironmental monitoringFederal fundsGrazing rightsPublic landsRange managementStaff utilizationLivestockBudget allotment