Public lands consultant

Public lands consultant

David Sparks Ph.D.
David Sparks Ph.D.
I got into a discussion with public lands consultant Andy Rieber and all of a sudden realized I wasn't quite sure what a public lands consultant was. "In the Western United States, the majority of cattle ranches are public lands ranchers which is because so much of the land here is quite arid. It takes a lot of land to graze a cow. So most of the ranches have deeded property that they own outright witches and more fertile areas, river bottoms etc., but during the summer months they have permits to turn their cattle out on the public lands. The cows graze upon the public lands which is typically BLM and Forest Service land. Both of those agencies lease permits to ranchers. Many ranchers need some kind of a liaison to work with them to help facilitate communication and cooperation with the federal agencies. Public lands grazing is also often times politically contentious for this reason. There are some people who feel that grazing should not be occurring on public lands even though legally those lands are designated by Congress as multiple use lands meaning they are intended to be used for a number of things, grazing and other kinds of natural resource uses as well as recreation, hunting and wildlife.
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