BLM Updates on Flexible Grazing—Join Us at SRM!
Flexible Grazing: A Tool for Ecological Health
In producing our six-part film series on grazing management with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) this year, we have been endlessly inspired by the lengths that ranchers will go to to keep grazed lands healthy. To livestock managers, the land and its wealth of food and forage is a critical resource that needs to be carefully cared for.
We know from interviews with five different ranching operations this past year that the BLM’s new Outcome-Based Grazing authorizations have been an invaluable tool for keeping public land in good health, because the flexibility these authorizations offer allow livestock managers to make short-term management decisions as conditions change with the grazing season. This can include changing grazing locations to protect water resources; timing of grazing in response to vegetative health; building in new management plans to track important land health indicators; and many more potential flexibilities that livestock professionals can design inn collaboration with their BLM field staff according to their needs.
Join Us for a Flexible Grazing Mixer at the Society for Range Management!
The IWJV and the BLM are hosting a get-together at the Society for Range Management meeting and you’re invited!
Flexible Grazing with BLM: Let’s talk about OBGA and flexibilities
Monday, February 10, 6 - 7:30 pm
Room 201ABC of the Spokane Convention Center
Join us to network with fellow rangeland management and ranching professionals, hear from the BLM’s national Outcome-Based Grazing Coordinator, and learn more about the film series. A full bar will be available, and first folks in the door can enjoy a beverage on the house! We can’t wait to connect with you there. Click here for more information on the 2025 Society for Range Management meeting in Spokane, WA.
Policy Update: New BLM Instruction Memorandum on Flexibility in Livestock Grazing Management
The BLM has released a new Instruction Memorandum (IM) to inform BLM staff and the public about Outcome-Based Grazing and flexibility in public lands grazing permits. For BLM staff, the IM offers clarity on the process of incorporating grazing flexibility into permits, and for grazing permittees and lessees the IM gives insight into how BLM field staff must go about providing this service. Access the new IM here: