The Trump administration is leaning on the Forest Service to help ease the rising price of meat.
In a memo to Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz on Friday, Agriculture Undersecretary Michael Boren reasserted the administration’s commitment to putting more cattle on national forest lands, including by filling vacant Forest Service grazing allotments.
“Grazing on National Forest System (NFS) lands is critical to the health of our landscapes; to providing sustainable beef, lamb and wool for America’s food and fiber supply; and for maintaining the fabric of rural America,” Boren said in the memo, which Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins shared with Forest Service employees.
While expanding grazing on national forest land offers more opportunities for ranchers, conservation groups caution that cows pose environmental dangers from overgrazing.
