Rangeland Management

This fact sheet provides information on livestock grazing on public rangeland managed by the Forest Service, which allows ranchers to graze cattle on parcels of land called allotments. The Forest Service bills ranchers for the grazing, measuring usage by animal month, defined as one month's use and occupancy of the range by one adult cow, or five sheep or goats. GAO discusses (1) the number, the average acreage, and the average stocking rate of Forest Service allotments and (2) the total and the average number of animal months controlled by Forest Service permittees. GAO grouped the allotment and permittee information into several categories, emphasizing the 500 largest and smallest allotments and permittees. In general, grazing allotments in the western United States were concentrated among the largest ranchers. The 500 largest allotments GAO studied encompassed more than 29 million acres, or about 32 percent of the total allotment acreage. In contrast, the 500 smallest allotments accounted for about 49,000 acres, or 0.05 percent of the total allotment acreage. Similarly, the 500 permittees with the highest livestock grazing levels accounted for nearly 4.5 million animal months, or nearly half of the total number of animal months. The 500 permittees with the lowest livestock grazing levels accounted for about 8,500 animal months, or 0.09 percent of the total number of animal months allowed.

GAO found that: (1) the Forest Service administers 8,455 allotments totalling 89.6 million acres; (2) the average acre allotment varies, the 500 largest allotments total 32 percent of the total acreage, the 500 smallest allotments total .05 percent of the total acreage, and an average of 9.7 acres is needed to provide 1 animal/month; (3) the total number of animal/months controlled under 8,206 grazing permits is 9.2 million; (4) the average number of animal/months controlled by permittees is 1,127; and (5) the 500 largest permittees control nearly 48 percent of the total animal/months, and the 500 smallest permittees control .09 percent of the total number of animal/months.