
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, August 10, 1993                   TAG: 9308100128
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

CLINTON BOOSTS FEES TO PROTECT PUBLIC LAND

The Clinton administration moved to more than double grazing fees and tighten controls Monday on ranchers who use federal land, sidestepping Congress which has resisted changing Western land policy for years.

Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt called the policy change "a reasonable balance" between protecting the long-term health of America's range and ensuring that ranchers who rely on federal grazing can survive.

He said it would be a first step in the administration's effort to protect federal lands from commercial abuses.

The higher fees were originally included in President Clinton's budget, but the administration allowed Congress to remove the provision because of opposition from Western lawmakers whose votes were needed to pass the budget.

The Interior Department will implement the new policy through changes in federal rules that do not require congressional approval.

Environmentalists have complained that the government's low fees have allowed ranchers to overgraze and ignore the long-term health of the land.

by CNB