Portion of Green Mountain Common Allotment Closed to Grazing

by Tom Darin

While much of our grazing program work in recent months has focused on the Smiths Fork allotment in southwest Wyoming (see sidebar for an update), we have recently turned our attention to tackling ongoing grazing abuses on the 500,000-acre Green Mountain Common Allotment (GMCA) that sprawls from near Atlantic City to Jeffrey City.

Taking time out from a busy July schedule of court dates and public meetings

Almost a full month before the first livestock were allowed in the north pasture, virtually all of the riparian areas had already been severely overgrazed, and in some places, all that remained was dirt.

on coalbed methane, I attended a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) field trip that covered a sizable portion of the GMCA. I was joined by WOC board member Lance Morrow from Jeffrey City, Lander resident and conservation activist Ray Corning, other concerned citizens, BLM field staff and most of the allotment's permittees.

At issue was a summer of grazing abuse on the allotment, following the BLM's development of an extensive allotment management plan (AMP) in 1999. The AMP was intended to address failing standards of rangeland health on the allotment caused by overuse and degradation of riparian areas.

Our group visited several portions of the Arapahoe Use Area: the East Alkali Creek and Bare Ring Butte pastures. This area was heavily overgrazed during the 2000 season and the BLM was paying close attention this year. The use area had been divided into two pastures for the 2001 grazing season: the south portion to be grazed from June 6 through August 19 and the north portion, which included the imperiled riparian areas, from August 20 through November 1. The 1999 AMP's utilization standard required that permittees leave 4 to 6 inches of vegetation stubble at the close of the entire season in the northern pasture's riparian areas.

The field trip was a real eye-opener. We were visiting the north pasture of the use area on July 25, almost a full month before the first livestock were allowed in the area. Yet virtually all of the riparian areas had already been severely overgrazed. In fact, most areas we looked at were decimated, with one inch or less vegetation stubble remaining. In some places, all that remained was dirt.

The problem, in addition to far too many cattle grazing the area during the second year of severe drought, was the obvious failure of permittees to control livestock distribution. As early as the first day of grazing - June 6 -

In the end, the BLM did the right thing on this allotment, standing up to political pressure, an action not easily taken these days in Wyoming.

permittees admitted that livestock had moved from the south pasture to the north pasture, a full 10 weeks prematurely. Cattle had quickly removed vegetation in the south pasture, and turned, with no one adequately controlling them, to the riparian areas of the north pasture. Since the remaining vegetation was around one inch high on July 25, it was apparent that the four inch requirement was met as early as the first week of July, a full 5 weeks before permittees were allowed to put livestock into the area, and 15 weeks before the end of the season, November 1.

The problem was obvious: if the south pasture was already utilized at or beyond capacity and the north end was utilized far above capacity well in advance of the date that livestock were even permitted in the area, there was nowhere for cattle to go and no grass for them to eat.

Jack Kelly, field manager for the BLM's Lander office, obviously shared our concerns. On August 4, Kelly issued an order to close this portion of the allotment on August 19, allowing an additional three days for trailing cattle out. In effect, the BLM closed the allotment down 10 weeks early.

Predictably, some of the permittees vigorously opposed the decision, although they were fully aware of grazing conditions in the area and their duty to control livestock far in advance of this grazing season. A group of permittees turned to the Fremont County Commission for a sympathetic ear.

On August 14, the commissioners wrote to Field Manager Kelly - as well as to Wyoming's congressional delegation and Governor Geringer - requesting that the BLM allow an additional two weeks of grazing. They claimed that attempts to remove cattle during hot days would be "inhumane to livestock" and could create economic problems for the permittees.

The BLM wasted no time in dismissing this last-ditch effort to delay livestock removal. Kelly rejected it, reminding commissioners that the permittees were on alert as early as November 2000 that parts of the allotment could be closed, and that permittees had been given two-weeks' notice to remove their livestock. Further, Kelly noted, "[I]mmediate action" was mandatory "given the significant level of unauthorized use in the pastures that were supposed to be rested for use in the latter half of the grazing season."

The decision also stirred a debate in the Lander Journal. In the end, however, the voices of the permittees were drowned out by an outpouring of letters to the editor from concerned residents of Fremont County and others from across the country, demonstrating citizens' understanding that public lands are just that - lands that belong to all Americans, entrusted to the responsible stewardship of the BLM.

In the end, the BLM did the right thing on this allotment, standing up to political pressure, an action not easily taken these days in Wyoming. WOC applauds and supports the Lander BLM Field Office for making the right decision. In the future, WOC will work with the BLM to revisit the utilization criteria for this allotment, including reevaluating carrying capacity, distribution techniques and a possible end to hot-season, drought-condition grazing.