1. United States
2. Mont.
3. Letter

I am writing to urge you to co-sponsor and support the Voluntary Grazing Permit Retirement Act (H.R. 5785), introduced by Rep. Adam Smith in October. This legislation offers a practical solution to conflicts between domestic livestock grazing and wildlife conservation on federal lands, particularly in Wilderness areas. The High Uintas Wilderness in northeastern Utah illustrates why this legislation is necessary. The Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest recently approved continued domestic sheep grazing on 144,000 acres, releasing 10,000 domestic sheep into nearly one-third of this Wilderness. These sheep carry Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae, a pathogen that causes catastrophic pneumonia in bighorn sheep through nose-to-nose contact. While undetectable in domestic sheep, this disease has been the primary driver of a 96 percent decline in North America's bighorn population since Euro-American colonization, killing adults and leaving lambs chronically infected for decades. Beyond disease transmission, domestic sheep grazing causes severe ecological damage. Sheep defecate freely, creating unsanitary conditions where backpackers cannot find clean ground. Grazing depletes vegetation needed by elk, mule deer, and bighorn sheep, accelerates soil erosion, and causes sedimentation that harms aquatic ecosystems and sensitive species like cutthroat trout by clogging gills, reducing oxygen levels, and disrupting food chains. Taxpayers subsidize this practice across 13 million acres of Western Wilderness. In the High Uintas, the ranching corporation pays less than one cent per day per sheep. Meanwhile, management agencies trap and kill native predators like black bears, mountain lions, and coyotes to protect livestock, and Utah's Bighorn Plan calls for killing cougars and helicopter gunning of potentially infected bighorn sheep rather than closing grazing allotments. H.R. 5785 provides a voluntary mechanism for ranchers to waive federal grazing permits permanently, ensuring retired allotments cannot be re-leased. This would help restore wildlife corridors, protect water quality, and reduce administrative costs while respecting rancher choice. I urge you to co-sponsor this common-sense legislation that protects both wildlife and taxpayer interests.