The Forest Service plans to test new rules for livestock grazing on North Dakota's national grasslands, a project that will take at least 10 years.
The project is part of the final management plan for the grasslands, which include more than 1 million acres in the Little Missouri National Grasslands in the west and Sheyenne National Grasslands in the southeastern part of the state.
Some grazing rules, such as those affecting prairie dog habitat, are being changed to guidelines, which at least one environmental group worries might be less strictly enforced.
The grasslands project "moves the argument away from the hypothetical and esoteric, to practical field application," regional U.S. Forester Gail Kimbell said in documents released Friday.
The Forest Service had estimated overall grazing cuts of 9 percent as a result of its plan. Ranchers said the estimates were low by as much as 60 percent. The grazing portion was put on hold in 2002 while a team of independent scientists spent the next two years studying it.
The scientists last year concluded that the Forest Service's projected grazing cuts were more accurate than the ranchers' estimates. However, the team also said the Forest Service projections were based on too many assumptions.
"The next logical course of action is to implement this finalized grasslands plan on the ground," Kimbell said.
The grasslands have other uses besides grazing, including wildlife habitat, recreation and energy development.
The demonstration grazing project will encompass all the national grasslands in North Dakota, said Forest Service spokeswoman Kathy Bushnell. As their contracts expire, ranchers with grazing permits will develop management plans using the project guidelines.
Kimbell said changing some of the standards to guidelines would allow more flexibility.
Wayde Schafer, a spokesman in North Dakota for the Sierra Club, said guidelines are "ambiguous" and "open to interpretation."
"We have a real concern that it's going to be fairly subjective," he said.
Spokesmen for grazing associations in the two national grasslands in North Dakota declined comment on Friday, saying they wanted time to review the record of decision. Todd Anderson, a rural Milnor rancher, did say that the Forest Service consulted grazing associations on the demonstration project.
The project will last for at least a decade, the Forest Service said.Bismarck Tribune
