This feature class was derived from two GIS polygon datasets: BLM Grazing Allotments and BLM Grazing Pastures, which were downloaded from the Geospatial Gateway in April 2023. Pastures without a number were exported to a separate feature class and treated as Allotments for the purpose of this analysis (noted as "Pastures as Allotments" in the data). Fields were added to the feature classes and calculated as needed to allow the Rangeland Administration System (RAS) tabular data to be joined to the GIS datasets.

RAS tabular data for Billed (2022 Grazing Fee Year (3/1/22 - 2/27/23)) was provided by BLM Rangeland Management Specialist William Lutjens on 3/29/2023 and processed as dbfs, with fields added and calculated as needed to match the BLM GIS Grazing Allotments and Pastures data. RAS tables and BLM GIS data for allotments were joined using the State Allotment Number, a concatenation of allotment number and BLM Administrative State for allotments (ST_ALLOT_NUM). To match numbered pastures in the RAS data and BLM GIS data, the pasture number was added to the State Allotment Number (ST_ALLOT_PAST_NUM).

RAS records for Billed Allotments, Pastures, and Pastures as Allotments that did not match during a join operation were tracked in a separate excel sheet from the matching records. Matching records were then joined back to each BLM GIS grazing feature class and Allotment and Pasture name fields were edited as necessary. A Status field was added to indicate if the data are either Billed or Authorized and a Source field was added to indicate if the data came from Pastures, Allotments, Pastures treated as Allotments, or Trailing Allotments. An additional field, TR_ALLOT_NUM, was added to designate any Trailing Allotments in the data. Trailing allotments were identified and processed separately for Nevada, since these allotments overlap other allotments.

Any overlaps in the data were removed prior to unioning together the four feature classes for Billed (Pastures, Allotments, Pastures as Allotments, and Trailing Allotments) into the final Billed feature class. Because there are overlaps between different source types in this dataset, and for purposes of sorting and querying the data, a new field was added to this unioned feature class (Source_Concat_Field) that is a concatenation of the Source fields from each of the four unioned datasets.

Input BLM GIS Grazing data:

BLM Grazing Pastures and BLM Grazing Allotments are areas of land designated and managed for grazing of livestock. It may include private, state, and public lands under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management and/or other federal agencies. An allotment is derived from its pastures, where the grazing of livestock is occurring. The attributes of the BLM Grazing Allotment and Pasture features may be duplicated in RAS, but are considered to be minimum information for unique identification and cartographic purposes.

During the physical implementation of Grazing Allotments and Pastures, if an Allotment does not have any associated Pasture information, one Pasture will be created from/matching the Allotment boundary. A code of “99” will be entered into the PAST_NO (Pasture Number) field to indicate that the Pasture arcs and polygons are derived and need to be updated with real information by the appropriate office.

Input RAS Data:

The Rangeland Administration System (RAS) provides grazing administrative support and management reports for the BLM and the public. The Rangeland Administration system serves as an electronic calendar for issuance of applications and grazing authorizations, including Permits, Leases, and Exchange-of-Use Agreements. The Billed data covers the 2022 Grazing Fee Year (3/1/22 - 2/28/23) and was provided by William Lutjens of the BLM on 3/29/2023.