The U.S. House passed the Grazing Improvement Act on a vote of 220 to 194 last week.  The measure would improve the livestock grazing permitting process on lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service. South Dakota Stock Grower’s Executive Director Silvia Christen says it’s a good bill for state ranchers and will provide them certainty by extending the term of grazing permits from 10 to 20 years.

Part of the bill would reduce the endless stream of lawsuits aimed at removing livestock from federal lands. Christen says it should curtail environmental groups bent on only having wildlife graze on federal lands rather than cattle and cut down on needless and costly litigation.

The measure now heads to the Senate where Christen says it’ll take an educational effort to convince members of the importance of public grazing