Cheaper than ever: Federal public land grazing fees stay low despite inflation and climate costs

[UngulateNerd92]

The federal lands grazing fee was announced yesterday and, for the fifth year in a row, has stayed at bargain-basement prices: $1.35 per cow/calf pair per month for all Bureau of Land Management and western U.S. Forest Service lands. For comparison, a 2019 congressional investigation found that leasing comparable livestock grazing on private ranchlands in the West came at a cost of $23.40 in 2017. This low fee doesn’t even come close to covering the administrative costs needed to run the grazing programs, leaving huge staffing shortfalls and little oversight of the public lands. It also amounts to a massive federal handout for the livestock industry and multi-millionaire and billionaire ranchers while completely ignoring the significant contributions of livestock grazing to both the climate and biodiversity crises.

Federal public land grazing fees stay low despite inflation and climate costs

 

[Pantheraman]

Me to everyone who thought this current administration would fix the biodiversity problem and would be less likely to cater to these special interests:

"See, I told you so."

 

[UngulateNerd92]

Me to everyone who thought this current administration would fix the biodiversity problem and would be less likely to cater to these special interests:

"See, I told you so."

Though I did hold at least some hope, I will say that you are not wrong and I am not terribly surprised by some of these policies. I am not going to lie, I have been quite angry and disappointed with the Biden Administration regarding certain environmental issues. As I said in another thread, I am honestly sick and tired of living in a society and economy that revolves around large corporations and wealthy people, especially at the expense of our climate and biodiversity. One question I often ask is, when and where does this greed and gluttony stop?