Montana stockgrowers champion cattle ranchers and grazing on state trust lands
HELENA, Mont. (July 10, 2026) – Montana Stockgrowers Association (MSGA) submitted comments and raised concerns regarding the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation’s (DNRC) proposed scoping to process American Prairie’s (AP) September 2019 Revised Bison Grazing Proposal.
In response to a recent court decision, the DNRC entered a 14-day formal public scoping phase of the project’s environmental assessment where stakeholders were asked to help identify key issues and environmental impacts before beginning the project. American Prairie’s request includes modifying and removing fencing and to change the class of livestock associated with state leases.
MSGA has long remained the trusted voice of Montana ranchers, advocating for responsible land management and cattle ranching practices. The organization emphasized that decisions impacting grazing on state lands must be in effort of stewardship, protecting the livelihood of ranching families, and safeguarding the landscape.
American Prairie’s (AP) request to remove fencing between state land parcels and BLM allotments, as well as allow for year-round grazing, is a primary concern to MSGA. Ensuring rangeland health requires precision and control by ranchers. In its comment, MSGA recognized the difficulty to address site or allotment specific concerns adequately if there are no mechanisms to keep livestock in or out of problem areas. MSGA urged the DNRC to intensely analyze the implications of fencing removal.
MSGA discouraged AP’s request for year-long continuous grazing, raising concern in the name of wildlife conflicts, degradation of range conditions, and the ability to address issues previously mentioned. Production livestock consider not only the needs of wildlife, but also hydraulic changes, forage availability, and noxious weed prevalence. As AP’s request does not consider potential landscape degradation or wildlife impacts, MSGA requested the Montana Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) analysis to consider the harmful implications of such a request.
MSGA stressed this request cannot be adequately addressed in isolation from the larger grazing plan as grazing decisions on state lands have long-term impacts on ranchers’ livelihoods, communities, and businesses. Forward-thinking, science-based, thoughtful analysis and decision-making is necessary to ensure the safety of Montana’s ranching heritage.
MSGA remains committed to assuring the continuation of the cattle ranching industry in Montana by advocating for exceptional range stewardship and requested that the DNRC consider MSGA’s concerns in the ensuing NEPA analysis.
–Montana Stockgrowers Association
