BLM allows Northern Nevada animal grazing, for now

RENO — The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has agreed to let ranchers continue grazing cattle and sheep on more than 300 square miles of Northern Nevada rangeland as long as lingering drought conditions don’t worsen.

But some ranchers say they don’t believe the temporary agreement is practical over the long term, and they’re taking their concerns to Gov. Brian Sandoval in petitions being delivered in a Pony Express-style procession scheduled to arrive today at the capitol in Carson City.

Last weekend, BLM officials backed off earlier threats to force most if not all livestock off the Argenta grazing allotment in Humboldt and Lander counties.

Under a temporary agreement with the three largest permittees, grazing will be allowed to continue at existing levels but with the caveat the livestock must be removed within a week after range conditions deteriorate to the point they trigger a mandatory drought response.

“The 2014 agreements avoid issuance of a BLM grazing decision that would either temporarily close all or part of the allotment or require grazing permit terms to be temporarily modified in order to prevent drought related resource damage,” BLM spokeswoman Lesli Ellis-Wouters said.

“The federal grazing regulations specifically require BLM to temporarily close all or part of an allotment or modify management practices if it is determined that grazing use poses a likelihood of resource damage due to drought,” she said in an email Wednesday.

Pete Tomera of Battle Mountain was among those gathering signatures on horseback Thursday and could not be reached for comment. But he said in a speech to supporters Monday in Carlin they reluctantly agreed to the deal as an alternative to selling hundreds of cattle.

“The agreement BLM forced on us is not a good one. There are many unreasonable restrictions,” Tomera said. “We feel we are being set up for failure. We feel the BLM is still using their heavy-handed efforts to keep us all under their control.”

Eddyann Filipini of Badger and Chiarra Ranches said in a letter to the governor on May 23 that forage and grass is abundant in the area and that the BLM restrictions make no sense.