ENTERPRISE — A bipartisan bill has been introduced in the U.S. Senate that would support ranchers who rely upon federal lands in the West to graze their livestock, Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, and John Barrasso, R-Wyoming, said Thursday, June 6.

Wyden informed his constituents in Owyhee County during a town hall there, according to a press release.

He said the Malheur Community Empowerment for the Owyhee Act will “bring certainty, conservation and economic opportunity to the forefront of Malheur County’s future. Today I’m pleased to work with Sen. Barrasso to build on the work of Oregon ranchers to give the rest of the West the tools to adapt in real time to the changing conditions and seasonal variations … as they manage grazing on rangelands. These authorities will recognize the ranchers who choose to use them as active participants in improving the ecological health of our public lands.”

The Operational Flexibility Grazing Management Program Act would improve the management of grazing on federal lands by allowing livestock operators more flexibility to adapt and respond to emergencies, such as drought or wildfires, Wyden assured in the press release.

Barrasso agreed, saying, “Grazing is an integral part of keeping Wyoming’s rangelands healthy. Ranchers need more flexibility to adapt and respond to on-the-ground threats like drought and wildfires. This will both support our ranching communities and encourage better management of our federal lands. Our bill gives ranchers the tools they need to best manage the grazing activities of their livestock.”

The federal government owns more than 52% of the land mass in Oregon. About the same percentage is federal land in Wallowa County, much of which is used as open space for grazing and recreation. The act will put management decisions in these lands in the hands of local range scientists and permittees who lease them.

Matt McElligott, president of the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association, was enthusiastic about the act.

“Oregon public lands ranchers are committed to environmental stewardship through science-based management,” he said. “Public lands ranchers sequester carbon, protect valuable wildlife habitat and reduce the incidence of wildfire by the removal of fine fuels on the landscape. Our public lands ranchers are critical in the economic viability of Oregon’s rural economy. This act is a step in the right direction in responsible management of federally owned lands in Oregon and throughout the western United States.”

Todd Nash, who preceded McElligott as OCA president and is a rancher and Wallowa County commissioner, agreed, although he said he had yet to read the act. In May, Nash won the Republican nomination to the state Senate seat for District 29.

“Sen. Barrasso’s usually been on the side of ranchers and multiple use of land,” he said. “One of the things we were asking Sen. Wyden to do was to keep the conservation groups from using grazing lands in a way that wouldn’t be beneficial to livestock. (The Bureau of Land Management) was going to give them grazing permits and then they’d do something other than grazing, so this may be a way to thwart that.”

In fact, the act places several restrictions on the BLM and requires it to expand a national grazing program, to develop flexible grazing use alternatives and requires the BLM to establish cooperative monitoring plans and rangeland health objectives to monitor and evaluate the impact of the program in coordination with the permittees.