Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 7/13/18

Burdensome federal regulations that environmental groups exploit to file frivolous lawsuits pose a serious threat to ranchers by limiting their access to grazing on public land, local agriculture leaders told a House Natural Resources subcommittee on Thursday. Idaho Lt. Gov. Brad Little and Arizona Farm Bureau President Stefanie Smallhouse repeated a common complaint among ranchers: The Endangered Species Act and National Environmental Policy Act needs to be revamped to prevent what they see as abuse.

"They're devastating," Little said of the lawsuits, because they can jeopardize ranchers' grazing permits and cost them precious dollars (especially when commodity prices are down). "It's the instability that really creates a problem, not only for the rancher but for the community that depends on that year round operation."

Conservation counterattack: But Erik Molvar, executive director of the Western Watersheds Project, said there's not enough enforcement of environment protections on federal lands, which compromises local ecosystems. "If the livestock industry is incapable of solving these problems then there's a real question of whether the public has an interest of having livestock on those particular public lands."

Wildfire assist: Ranchers play a critical role in combating wildfires that have devastated the Western U.S. increasingly in recent years, and they're going to be needed even more to help tackle the epidemic, said University of Montana professor Dave Naugle.

Targeted grazing "is an option we're going to need even more as catastrophic wildfires get up the open space that is available to wildlife and ranching," he said.