It’s a milestone for Wyoming ranchers when the first grazing district in Wyoming celebrates its 80th anniversary this week. The Taylor Grazing Act of 1934 was signed by President Roosevelt and was intended to “stop injury to the public grazing lands [excluding Alaska] by preventing overgrazing and soil deterioration; to provide for their orderly use, improvement, and development; [and] to stabilize the livestock industry dependent upon the public range,” according to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) website.
On March 20, 1935, Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes created a Division of Grazing with Colorado rancher, Farrington Carrington at the helm. After meeting with ranchers and state officials, the first grazing district (Rawlins) was set up and others soon followed.
By June of 1935, more than 65 million acres had been placed into their grazing districts. According to the BLM site, “All of the established districts are still in effect today.”
Ten years later on July 16, 1946 the Grazing Service and the General Land Office were merged by its new director Richard Rutledge to form the BLM which, according to their website, works under the following principles:
Self Reliance, which encourages one to “Stand on your own two feet and take responsibility.”
Organizational Attitude outlines the bureau’s attitude that, “the ability to get along with and work with others, are important factors in efficiency determination;
• Public Service, which emphasizes that, “we are responsible for the entire public and are not bureaucratic bosses to work our will upon the public as we see fit”;
• Sharp Practices, makes sure that BLM administrators actions should, “always be square, with equity and fairness” Mixing, which encourages BLM administrators to “be a part of the community”
• Self-Justification, reminds administrators to accept responsibility for mistakes and “avoid adopting an attitude of self-justification” and
• Capriciousness advises that administrators “keep their heads on the ground and remember that you are business men [sic] doing business.
When asked how the BLM is working with grazing allotments these days, field manager, Dennis Carpenter of the BLM Rawlins field office says that “about 95 percent of our allotments are meeting standards ... we owe a lot of that to our ability to work very closely with our permittees to make the best decisions for the land. “
On the continued success of the Taylor Grazing Act and the BLM relationship with ranchers, “ Its all about working together,” Carpenter said.
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