Livestock Grazing on Federal Lands
In the early 1800’s, free forage on unclaimed public domain lands allowed the building of cattle and sheep empires. Most rangelands soon became over-grazed, overstocked and overcrowded. There was really not much regulation of grazing activity until 1905 when Congress transferred the forest reserves from the Secretary of the Interior to the Secretary of Agriculture and established the Forest Service. The Forest Service soon became the pioneer grazing control agency and by 1906 to 1907 had established a system of range regulation. This system included limits on herd sizes, grazing seasons, areas of use and also established grazing fees.
Although the federal grazing permit system has been modified over the years by new laws, regulation and past experience, this system continues today much as it originally conceived in the early 1900s. Most permits continue to be administered by the US Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
Most federal grazing permits were established many years ago and were granted to ranchers whose property adjoined nearby federal lands. Although the requirements varied by National Forest and BLM District, ranchers were generally required to own enough land to provide a percentage of the forage to sustain the permitted number of livestock during the “off season”. Ranchers were required to have stock handling facilities and a base of operations. Today these facilities and lands are termed “base property”. These properties are usually adjacent to the federal land being used.
Permits are generally issued for a period of ten years, and the permit holder has priority for receipt of a new permit if he or she has fully complied with permit conditions. Permits may be issued to the purchaser of a permittee’s livestock and/or base property provided the permittee waives the existing permit to the United States and provided the purchaser is otherwise eligible. The permittee’s heirs are generally favored in transfer of permits if they maintain control of the base property.
Opportunities to obtain new permits are very limited because permits are issued for specific land areas and most suitable rangelands are already under permit. In most cases, changes in permits occur as the result of sale or transfer of the associated base property or livestock.
There are about 770 million acres of rangelands in the United States. Of this total, the federal government manages about 43% or 330 million acres. The US Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management administer most of the permits, and the National Park Service and the US Fish and Wildlife Service oversee a minor number of permits.
How Do Grazing Permits Work?
| State | Total Producers | No. of Producers w/Federal Grazing | Adjusted Federal | Federal % of Total |
| Arizona | 3792 | 1556 | 1323 | 35 |
| California | 26579 | 1962 | 1668 | 6 |
| Colorado | 16127 | 3750 | 3188 | 20 |
| Idaho | 15980 | 4023 | 3420 | 21 |
| Montana | 15822 | 5340 | 4539 | 29 |
| Nevada | 1786 | 1036 | 881 | 49 |
| New Mexico | 9189 | 3911 | 3324 | 36 |
| Oregon | 21811 | 2119 | 1801 | 8 |
| Utah | 8757 | 3570 | 3035 | 35 |
| Washington | 20147 | 706 | 600 | 3 |
| Wyoming | 6428 | 1890 | 1607 | 25 |
The Economics
of livestock grazing on federal lands
Links to anti-grazing activists