"Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue's directive last week promoting grazing on Forest Service land could rekindle a long-running debate about why the federal government is in the livestock-grazing business.

Ranchers cheered Perdue's announcement, in which he told the Forest Service to make grazing permits easier to obtain and to give grazing more prominence in the agency's management plans for national grasslands.

Environmentalists said the move will put sensitive public lands, including waterways, at risk of contamination from overuse by farm animals, while continuing a money-losing operation for the government."

Marc Heller reports for E&E News June 18, 2020. [2]