Recent developments in the law affecting livestock grazing on western riparian areas

Since 1993 there have been numerous significant legal developments affectin g livestock grazing on public-land riparian areas in the western United Sta tes. These include new regulations, standards, and guidelines for grazing o n BLM lands and a series of judicial and administrative decisions applying environmental statutes, such as the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act, to public lands grazing. Legislative and judicia l efforts by the livestock industry to counteract these developments have m et with only limited success. The new legal developments have established a set of substantive and procedural criteria that must be met before the BLM or the Forest Service issues a grazing permit affecting a riparian area. E nforcement of these criteria, however, will depend on the involvement of co ncerned individuals and organizations at the local management level.