National Cattlemen's Beef Association
Today, Interior Secretary Burgum signed a Secretarial Order (SO) directing the Department of the Interior (DOI) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to increase grazing access, promote healthy rangelands, and help reduce catastrophic wildfires on public lands. The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) and the Public Lands Council (PLC) support streamlining grazing access to improve range and pastureland health and fully utilize vacant land that will also help strengthen rancher efforts to rebuild the U.S. cattle herd. Today’s announcement is in line with PLC and NCBA’s support for the October 2025 Grazing Action Plan and DOI-U.S. Department of Agriculture Memorandum of Understanding signed earlier this year that improves coordination between the two departments to more effectively operate the federal lands grazing programs.
“Ranchers work every day to improve rangeland health and manage the fuel loads that lead to devastating wildfire but there has always been an enormous amount of red tape preventing ranchers from utilizing important forage on vacant grazing allotments,” said NCBA President-elect and Idaho grazing permittee Kim Brackett. “This Secretarial Order streamlines permitting to get ranchers back on these long-neglected areas and carry out important voluntary conservation work. Ranchers across the West, appreciate the DOI Secretary Burgum and BLM Director Pearce for standing with American ranchers.”
“PLC has long led industry efforts to improve grazing flexibility to empower livestock producers to quickly make decisions that fully incorporate the needs of the land, livestock production, and multiple-use requirements. Today’s Secretarial Order makes clear that Secretary Burgum views ranchers as partners in important land management decisions,” said PLC President Ron Cerri. “We look forward to seeing the components of the SO come to life in regulatory improvements, like the much-anticipated revision of BLM grazing regulations.”