Sheep Industry News June 2024

Webinar Discusses Public Lands Grazing During Disease Outbreak

A May webinar provided public lands grazers and regula tory officials with an overview of how movement criteria and guidance documents for managing livestock during a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak were recently developed. The project – a joint venture of ASI, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and the Public Lands Council – was funded by a grant from the National Animal Disease Preparedness and Re sponse Program and designed to deal with gaps in food security programs such as the Secure Sheep and Wool Supply Plan and the Secure Beef Supply Plan. Both of these plans now include sections devoted to public lands grazers on their websites. The project dealt specifically with sheep and cattle who are not infected with FMD, but fall in an FMD control area during an outbreak and require a permit to move. Animals could need to be moved for a variety of reasons, including: the end of a graz ing permit or natural disasters such as wildfire, flood or blizzard. Public lands grazers might also find themselves in a situation where their base property is within a control area. For these and other reasons, contingency planning is vital to managing livestock movement during an outbreak. Movement restrictions of susceptible livestock species is one strategy for the control and containment of a disease outbreak. A 72-hour national movement standstill of susceptible species, semen, embryos and wool has been recommended by the U.S. Department of Agriculture during state/national exercises. Dur ing this time, regulatory control areas around infected premises will be designated. The infected, suspect and contact farms will be managed under the guidance in the USDA FMD Response Plan. Livestock operations affected by movement restrictions yet not infected with the disease will need to restart movement as soon as possible to support business continuity that is consistent with mitigating the risk of disease spreading. The guidance in the Secure Food Supply Plans are for operations with no evidence of the disease infection located in a control area to prepare to meet movement permit requirements while reducing the risk of spread ing the virus. Federal land is substantial in the 11 Western states where public lands grazing takes place, with much of that overseen by the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service. For instance, 80 percent of Nevada’s land is owned by the federal government. Utah and Idaho are both above 60 percent. BLM has 18,000 permittees on 21,000 allotments, while USFS has 6,000 permittees on 7,200 allotments. What that means for public lands grazers is that multiple agen cies – from federal to state to local – will be involved if there is a

disease outbreak, even if their animals are not infected. The NADPRP-funded project had three main objectives: create an advisory group; develop guidance documents; and conduct exercises. The advisory group included seven public lands ranchers from Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon and Utah. It also included representatives from BLM and USFS, USDA’s Wildlife Services, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service/Veterinary Services. State animal health agencies from Colorado, California and Nevada also participated with staff from ASI, NCBA and PLC. “Bringing together all these stakeholders with the goal to better prepare our industry in the event of an FMD outbreak was the most important objective and was critical for the success of this project," said ASI Director of Analytics and Production Programs Erica Sanko. The group was assembled in April 2022 and started with virtual meetings. Interviews with the advisory group and others pro vided the basis for the document Management Practices and FMD Exposure Risks for Sheep and Cattle Grazing Federal Public Lands . An additional document – Roles of Agencies in Non-Outbreak and FMD Outbreak Situations: Permitting Sheep and Cattle Grazing Federal Public Lands – was also developed. Subsequently, a seminar and workshop were conducted in November 2022 and August 2023, respectively, to discuss move ment scenarios. Through these efforts, the Movement Decision Criteria for Industry and Regulatory Officials Managing Cattle and Sheep Grazing Federal Public Lands During an FMD Outbreak was developed. This guidance document describes three movement options and five decision criteria for industry and regulatory officials to consider when managing cattle and sheep grazing federal public lands that are affected by movement controls – quarantine, con trol areas – during an FMD outbreak, but are not infected with the disease. This is for guidance only, but it aligns with the USDA FMD Response Plan (Oct 2020), and is cognizant of BLM and USFS jurisdiction, referring to the Code of Federal Regulations, instructional memorandums, manuals and directives. ASI is aware of at least one state that partnered with some others on a NADPRP grant proposal to modify and exercise the movement guidance at a state level. More information on future projects will be announced as it becomes available. Visit SecureSheepWool.org/producers/public-land-grazing to learn more.

14 • Sheep Industry News • sheepusa.org