Dennis Sun: Against the West

November 8 was a sad day for ranchers and farmers across Wyoming as the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released a long-awaited update on the management of sage grouse and its 65 million acres of habitat in the western range.

We all knew this would happen, but we didn’t know the hammer would fall.

Those of us who ranch or farm in the central sage grouse zone understand that the Biden Administration, the U.S. Department of the Interior and the BLM are aligned with the West, especially Wyoming. Let’s hope this is their last step towards ending grazing on public lands. This action will also affect private and public lands.

Wyoming was the first western state to initiate a core area and management plan for sage grouse, which was used by other western states as a model for creating their own plans. Wyoming recently expanded the total area of ​​its core territory to accommodate upgrades. It didn’t work.

Our state government, the Wyoming Sage Implementation Team (SGIT), landowners, and the state’s energy industry were somewhat optimistic about the upcoming update because they believed that collaboration with those in Washington, D.C. would produce better results for Wyoming.

SGIT chairman Bob Budd said: “We brought the science to the table and told them, ‘This is how it should be handled.’ But it was ignored.”

Those of us in the core regions have learned to manage our agriculture and livestock operations under restrictions in the core regions, but it has not come without sacrifice. However, I think we did a good job.

But don’t forget that the government has spent a lot of money improving sage grouse habitat, which is what we landowners value.

Outside of western states, the sage grouse population in Wyoming is growing, according to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. I never thought this bird was easy to handle and personally suspect it spends a lot of time looking for a place to die.

In a statement, the BLM said, “The sage grouse population continues to decline, largely due to habitat loss exacerbated by climate impacts such as drought, increasingly intense wildfires, and invasive species.”

Well, if the BLM is so concerned about habitat loss, why have they set aside millions of acres of federal land in the West for wind and solar power and likely won’t place any restrictions on lands where bison graze?

All radical environmental groups support the government’s decision because it is in line with their goal of banning livestock grazing on public lands, and some don’t think the changes go far enough.

People don’t realize that properly managed grazing of cattle and sheep helps control wildfires on all lands.

Although the BLM claims that they used the best available science to develop these updates for sage grouse, I don’t think that’s true. Nowhere in the ad did I read anything about controlling predators in the western states, which are major contributors to the decline of sage grouse.

President-elect Donald Trump has campaigned to return the DOI and BLM to common-sense management that will listen to experts from Western countries. I can’t wait.

Have a great Thanksgiving.

Dennis Sun is the publisher of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup, a weekly agricultural newspaper available in print and