"In late 2019, a pair of Montana ranchers got introuble with the Forest Service, which oversees the federal lands where they had a permit to graze their cattle. Agency staff had found their cattle wandering in unauthorized locations four times during September of that year. The agency also found some of their fences in disrepair and their salt licks - which provide cattle with essential minerals - too close to creeks and springs, drawing the animals into those habitats."
"After repeated calls, texts and letters, the Forest Service sent the ranchers a "notice of noncompliance," according to documents obtained via public records requests. The agency asserted that the ranchers had engaged in "a willful and intentional violation" of their permit and warned that future violations could lead to its revocation."
""When they hear something they don't like," they run to the forest supervisor and the senator's office "to get what they want," a Forest Service official wrote in a 2021 email to colleagues."
Two Montana ranchers received a Forest Service notice after agency staff found cattle in unauthorized areas, fences in disrepair, and salt licks too close to creeks and springs. The notice characterized the permit breaches as a willful and intentional violation and warned that further violations could lead to permit revocation. The ranchers contested the action and sought assistance from a former Forest Service employee. Congressional staff for then-Rep. Greg Gianforte and Sen. Steve Daines intervened, initiating over a year of back-and-forth between the senator's office and Forest Service officials. A Forest Service official described recurring political pressure on agency staff.
Read at High Country News
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