The Bureau of Land Management implements an initiative known as Outcome-Based Grazing Authorizations. It is designed to offer a more collaborative approach between the BLM and its partners within the livestock grazing community when issuing grazing authorizations.
The purpose of this project is to improve BLM’s management of grazing on public lands by offering livestock operators greater flexibility to more readily respond to changing on-the-ground conditions, such as drought or wildfire. This will better ensure their ability to manage ranching operations that are economically sustainable while also providing for healthy rangelands and high-quality wildlife habitat. Decreasing the response time to changing field conditions is one of the primary goals of the demonstration project. The program highlights BLM’s commitment to partnerships, which are vital to managing sustainable, working public lands.
Currently, the terms and conditions mandated in a ranch’s grazing permit often prohibits a ranch manager’s ability to implement necessary and/timely grazing adjustments that would benefit the health of the rangeland for wildlife as well as its provision of forage for livestock. For example, rather than specifying dates for moving between pastures or having strict on and off dates, management will focus on achieving end results for the goal of balancing forage and habitat resources for the greatest mutual gain.
The flexibility outcome-based grazing provides is to support:
Enhanced partnerships for managing livestock grazing;
Implement grazing based on conservation performance and ecological outcomes rather than hardline metrics;
Improvement, management and/or protection of public lands within a grazing allotment or specified geographic area; and,
Continued achievement or attainment of positive economic and social outcomes.
Hear the latest on Outcome-based Grazing from the BLM and several demonstration projects.
Watch this video to learn about how Idaho’s Deep Creek Ranch is practicing Outcome-based Grazing.
Learn about how public lands are grazed under a system of permits and leases in this video.
Outcome-based Grazing Demonstration Projects
Selected demonstration projects on specific ranches are being used to share experience and demonstrate or develop best practices to be in other BLM grazing permit renewals. As the projects progress, they will give BLM and partners information and experience for developing consistent national policy to implement outcome based grazing as a standard practice. The information acquired through this effort will also allow for recommendations for regulatory modifications that could better provide for the ability to issue Outcome Based Grazing Authorizations that maximize and normalize the use of flexibility to address changing conditions. The BLM and its partners will not only share the responsibility for reaching their mutual objectives of this project, but also for monitoring its success.
Click on the following to read about each of the ranches demonstrating outcome-based grazing.
Lewistown, Montana
Plush, Oregon
Battle Mountain, Nevada
Frenchglen, Oregon
Craig, Colorado
