Rangeland Management

Profile of the Bureau of Land Management's Grazing Allotments and Permits Gao ID: RCED-92-213FS June 10, 1992

This fact sheet provides information on livestock grazing on public rangeland managed by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM). GAO discusses (1) the number, the average acreage, and the average stocking rate of BLM allotments and (2) the total and the average number of animal unit months--the amount of forage needed to feed one 1,000-pound cow, a horse, or five sheep for a month--covered by grazing permits. GAO groups the information into several categories, emphasizing the 500 largest and 500 smallest allotments and permits.

GAO found that, as of September 1991: (1) BLM administered 22,058 allotments that encompassed 163.3 million acres in the 16 western states; (2) the average acreage of BLM allotments varied by state office, ranging from over 1,500 acres in Montana to over 56,500 acres in Nevada; (3) the 500 largest allotments encompassed over 76 million acres and the 500 smallest allotments encompassed about 13,000 acres; and (4) the average number of acres required to provide 1 animal unit month on BLM allotments ranged from over 20 acres in California and Nevada to fewer than 7 acres in Montana and New Mexico.



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