The Congressional Grazing Guidelines were adopted by Congress in 1990 to specifically guarantee that ranchers would not have their ranching operations curtailed within Wilderness by the government, that they would be allowed access to their allotment, and that they could use motorized equipment to maintain their infrastructure. These guidelines have been attached to most Wilderness legislation since 1990 for areas that include ranching. The Congressional Grazing Guidelines would be included in Doña Ana County Wilderness legislation.

Local ranchers continuously mischaracterize their rights within Wilderness to local citizens and elected officials, and so we have provided this document for all to see.

These guidelines are part of the reason that there has been NO reduction in the number of ranchers still in business in New Mexico’s largest BLM Wilderness Area, the El Malpais, or in millions of acres of Wilderness in Arizona, since attaining this designation. Simply put, rancher’s ability to graze livestock are guaranteed in Wilderness, ranchers successfully operate in Wilderness on millions of acres across the Western United States, and our local ranchers will successfully operate in Wilderness here as well upon protection of our important public lands in Doña Ana County.


Excerpt from Public Law 101-628 §101(f)

Grazing in National Forest Wilderness Areas (and BLM Wilderness Areas)

Section {(d) (4) (2) of the Wilderness Act states: "the grazing of livestock where established prior to the effective date of this Act, shall be permitted to continue subject to such reasonable regulations as are deemed necessary by the Secretary of Agriculture."

The legislative history of this language is very clear in its intent that livestock grazing, and activities and the necessary facilities to support a livestock grazing program will be permitted to continue in National Forest wilderness areas, when such grazing was established prior to classification of an area as wilderness.

Including those areas established in the Wilderness Act of 1964, Congress has designated some 188 areas, covering lands administered by the Forest Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service and Bureau of Land Management as components of the National Wilderness Preservation System. A number of these areas contain active grazing programs, which are conducted pursuant to existing authorities. In all such cases, when enacting legislation classifying an area as wilderness, it has been the intent of the Congress, based on solid evidence developed by testimony at public hearings, that the practical language of the Wilderness Act would apply to grazing within wilderness areas administered by all Federal agencies not just the Forest Service. In fact, special language appears in all wilderness legislation, the intent of which is to assure that the applicable provisions of the Wilderness Act, including Section 4(d) (4)(2), will apply to all wilderness areas, regardless of agency jurisdiction.

Further, during the 95th Congress, Congressional committees became increasingly disturbed that, despite the language of section 4(d) (4) (2) of the Wilderness Act and despite a history of nearly 15 years in addressing and providing guidance to the wilderness management agencies for development of wilderness management policies, National Forest administrative regulations and policies were acting to discourage grazing in wilderness, or unduly restricting on-the-ground activities necessary for proper grazing management. To address this problem the House Committee on Interior and Insular
Affairs Reports (95-20 and 95-21) specifically provided guidance as to how section 4(d) (4) (2) of the Wilderness Act should be interpreted. This guidance appeared in these reports as follows:

Section 4(d) (4) (2) of the Wilderness Act states that grazing in wilderness areas, if established prior to designation of the area as wilderness, "shall be permitted to continue subject to such reasonable restrictions as are deemed necessary by the Secretary of Agriculture". To clarify any lingering doubts, the committee wishes to stress that this language means that there shall be no curtailment of grazing permits or privileges in an area simply because it is designated as wilderness. As stated in Forest Service regulations (36 CFR 393.7) grazing in wilderness areas ordinarily will be controlled under the general regulations governing grazing of livestock on National Forests …. This includes the establishment of normal range allotments and allotment management plans. Furthermore, wilderness designation should not prevent the maintenance of existing fences or other livestock management improvements, nor the construction and maintenance of new fences or improvements which are consistent with allotment management plans and or which are necessary for the protection of the range.

Despite the language of these two reports, RARE II hearing and field inspection trips in the 96th Congress have revealed that National Forest administrative policies on grazing in wilderness are subject to varying interpretations in the field and are fraught with pronouncements that simply are not in accordance with section 4 (d )(4)(2) of the Wilderness Act. This led to demands on the part of grazing permittees that section 4(d) (4) (2) of the Wilderness Act be amended to clarify the intention of Congress. However, because of the great t diversity of conditions under which grazing uses (including different classes of livestock) are managed on the public lands, the Conferees feel that the original broad language of the Wilderness Act is best left unchanged. Any attempts to draft specific language covering grazing in the entire wilderness system (presently administered by four separate agencies in two different Departments) might prove to be unduly rigid in a specific area and deprive the land management agencies of flexible opportunities to manage grazing in a creative and realistic site specific fashion.

Therefore the conferees declined to amend section 4(d) (4) (2) of the Wilderness Act, agreeing instead to reaffirm the existing language and to include the following or nationwide guidelines and specific statements of legislative policy. It is the intention of the conferees that the guidelines and policies be considered in the overall context of the purposes and direction of the Wilderness Act of 1964 and this Act and that they be promptly, fully, and diligently implemented made available to Forest Service personnel at all levels and to all holders of permits for grazing in National Forest Wilderness areas:

1. There shall be no curtailments of grazing in wilderness areas simply because an area is or has been designated as wilderness, nor should wilderness designations be used as an excuse by administrators to slowly "phase out " grazing. Any adjustments in the numbers of livestock permitted to graze in wilderness areas should be made as a result of revisions in the normal grazing and land management planning and policy setting process, giving consideration to legal mandates, range condition, and the protection of the range resource from deterioration.

It is anticipated that the numbers of livestock permitted to graze in wilderness would remain at the approximate levels existing at the time an area enters the wilderness system. If land management plans reveal conclusively that increased livestock numbers or animal unit months (AUMs) could be made available with no adverse impact on wilderness values such as plant communities, primitive recreation. and wildlife populations or habitat, some increases in AUMs may be permissible. This is not to imply, however that wilderness lends itself to AUM or livestock increases and construction of substantial new facilities that might be appropriate for intensive grazing management in non-wilderness areas.

2. The maintenance of supporting facilities, existing in an area prior to its classification as wilderness (including fences, line cabins, water wells and lines, stock tanks, etc.), is permissible in wilderness. Where practical alternatives do not exist, maintenance or other activities may be accomplished through the occasional use of motorized equipment. This may include, for example, the use of backhoes to maintain stock ponds, pickup trucks for major fence repairs, or specialized equipment to repair stock watering facilities. Such occasional use of motorized equipment should be expressly authorized in the grazing permits for the area involved. The use of motorized equipment should be based on a rule of practical necessity and reasonableness. For example, motorized equipment need not be allowed for the placement of small quantities of salt or other activities where such activities can reasonably and practically be accomplished on horseback or foot. On the other hand it may be appropriate to permit the occasional use of motorized equipment to haul large quantities of salt to distribution points. Moreover, under the rule of reasonableness, occasional use of motorized equipment should be permitted where practical alternatives are not available and such use would not have a significant adverse impact on the natural environment. Such motorized equipment uses will normally only be permitted to those portions of a wilderness area where they had occurred prior to the area's designation as wilderness or are established by prior agreement.

3. The replacement or reconstruction of deteriorated facilities or improvements should not be required to be accomplished using "natural materials", unless the material and labor costs of using natural materials are such that their use would not impose unreasonable additional costs on grazing permittees.

4. The construction of new improvements or replacement of deteriorated facilities in wilderness is permissible if in accordance with those guidelines and management plans governing the area involved. However, the construction of new improvements should he primarily for the purpose of resource protection and the more effective management of these resources rather than to accommodate increased numbers of livestock.

5. The use of motorized equipment for emergency purposes such as rescuing sick animals or the placement of feed in emergency situations is also permissible. This privilege is to be exercised only in true emergencies, and should not be abused by permittees.

In summary, subject to the conditions and policies outlined above, the general rule of thumb on grazing management in wilderness should be that activities or facilities established prior to the date of an area's designation as wilderness should be allowed to remain in place and may be replaced when necessary for the permittee to properly administer the grazing program. Thus, if livestock grazing activities and facilities were established in an area at the time Congress determined that the area was suitable for wilderness and placed the specific area in the wilderness system, they should be allowed to continue. With respect to areas designated as wilderness prior to the date of this Act, these guidelines shall not be considered as a direction to reestablish uses where such uses have been discontinued.

It is also the understanding of the conferees that the authorizing Committees intend to closely monitor the implementation of the guidelines through subsequent oversight hearings to insure that the spirit, as well as the letter, of the guidelines are adhered to by the Forest Service. Of course, the inclusion of these guidelines in this Joint Statement of Managers does not preclude the Congress from dealing with the issue of grazing in wilderness areas statutorily in the future.