What will be the impact on ranchers if public land grazing is reduced?

The basic rule is that breeding livestock have to be somewhere every day of the year. In the northern United States with seasonal grazing, livestock may be on public lands only during certain months. This source of forage may be all that is available during that time. In the southern United States, grazing may occur year round on public land. If public land grazing is reduced, ranchers have a few options depending on their location. They may need to reduce their herd size to balance demand for forage with available supply. They may be able to find alternative feed sources to make up for the lost supply. Also, they may move the livestock to private land which may or may not create resource problems on that land. In any case, it is likely that the impact on the rancher will be to either increase costs of production, reduce their income, or create resource problems on their private land. If grazing is reduced for the wrong reasons, the result can be missed opportunities for improvements to wildlife habitat for species that also use private land, or missed opportunities to manage fuels that can put resources and people at risk.

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