Use of Public Rangelands in the American West

Abstract

The Bureau of Land Management, the land agency that administers much of the federal rangeland in the American West, has frequently been characterized as excessively responsive to the desires of ranchers, with resulting land deterioration and loss of resource values. Both the generally poor condition of the public domain, and the Bureau's attempt to maintain stocking levels while improving the range, support this characterization.Several policies and programmes over the last decade, however, suggest that the Bureau today is less strongly tied to the livestock industry, and certainly its lands are being increasingly coveted by groups other than grazers. This recent trend towards a more ‘multiple use’ agency has been strengthened by Congressional passage of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act in 1976. Whether or not diversification of land policies will continue into the future is, however, at present unclear.