Representing You in D.C. PLC Sets 2021 priorities to tackle issues in Washington and beyond by Public Lands Council Executive Director Kaitlynn Clover The dawning of each new year brings the promise of a fresh start, of better days ahead. As we began 2020, many of us were looking forward to a year full of progress: the Public Lands Council (PLC) had set goals like modernizing the Endangered Species Act (ESA), making changes to federal grazing regulations to finally lift the harmful realities of “Range Reform of ‘94” and taking intentional steps to improve ranchers’ rightful role in land and resource management. The year started off well: the Trump administration opened the scoping process to revise Bureau of Land Management (BLM) grazing regulations, the White House started the process to revise National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) guidance and all the agencies had a full agenda for the last year of the Trump term. As the brand new executive irector, I was thrilled to join PLC and get straight to work. COVID-19 hit the country, and that ambitious agenda, with a force that can only be described as immense. Delays hit every portion of the public lands rancher’s life; from your ability to make your routine trips to town to your ability to have confidence there would be processing capacity for your beef or lamb, the impact of COVID-19 was undeniable. It delayed the regulatory process, too. While the BLM grazing regulations process got off to a promising start, the agency soon was bogged down in personnel and process delays that left us without any
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Utah Cattleman Seedstock Edition
tangible progress as the clocked chimed midnight on Jan. 1, 2021. The Forest Service (USFS) handbook and directives changes were similarly delayed, but the agency was able to issue proposed changes at the 11th hour, even though the opportunity for public comment would fall in the early days of the Biden administration. Despite the immense challenge, the Trump administration made significant progress in other areas. Before the end of 2020, we saw the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) federally delist the gray wolf rangewide. The USFWS also finalized two additional ESA rules, which clarified the agency’s ability to designate critical habitat and allow ranchers to request that allotments or portions of allotments be excluded from critical habitat designations. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized the “Waters of the United States” replacement rule and the White House finalized government-wide guidance telling agencies that NEPA should be a tool for analysis, not paralysis. As we enter 2021 with a new administration and a new Congress, many of the issues we faced in 2020 linger. COVID-19 response is ongoing. Resource challenges like poor federal horse and burro management, rampant spread of invasive species, and the threat of catastrophic wildfire also remain. This year is a prime example that while all ...CONTINUED ON PAGE 52
VOLUME 7
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FEBRUARY 2021
