(Montana) The federal government is in the process of updating its policies regarding management of the National Wildlife Refuge System. Montana ranchers are worried the new rule could prohibit cattle grazing on refuge lands.
Presently, ranchers can apply for special-use permits to graze livestock on refuge lands. Those permits are then approved or denied on a case-by-case basis. The proposed update would create a “default position” of prohibiting grazing.
Montana’s fish, wildlife and parks agency and the nonprofit Montana Wildlife Federation also submitted comments urging the feds to reconsider the language of the proposed rule.
