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Land-Use Proposals Debated Administration Urges Congress To Reject Gop Grazing Reform

Scott Sonner Associated Press

A Republican proposal to reform livestock grazing policies on federal lands “turns back the clock” on rangeland improvements in the West, a Clinton administration official told lawmakers Thursday.

Mike Dombeck, acting director of the Bureau of Land Management, said the GOP plan focuses on just one use of public rangelands - livestock grazing - while deemphasizing other uses such as mining, hunting, recreation and wildlife.

Dombeck told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee subcommittee on forests and public land management the GOP bill would change legal standards at the expense of rangeland conditions. He also said it would limit public input on grazing policies primarily to those who graze livestock.”I think if the administration continues to oppose this legislation, the anger and frustration in the West is going to increase,” the Colorado senator said at the subcommittee hearing.

The proposal sponsored by Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., in the Senate and Rep. Wes Cooley, R-Ore., in the House would raise grazing fees from the current $1.61 per animal formula to an estimated $2.10.

Republicans say the Clinton administration’s conservation proposals, which do not set specific fee levels, would result in much steeper increases.

Dombeck acknowledged public rangelands are beginning to regain their health and in many places are in better shape than they were 50 years ago.

But “millions of acres of public land remain in poor condition. Too many watersheds are not producing their full range of benefits. Too many soils continue to lose fertility … too many streams and riparian areas are still degraded,” he said.

Sen. Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska, chairman of the full committee, and Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, chairman of the subcommittee, support the bill.

“This administration has chosen to pursue a course of regulatory action that would destroy the ability of rural Western families to live as they have for generations,” Craig said.