Ag Groups Oppose Buyout of Grazing Leases

Members of the House of Representatives are being asked to oppose efforts to introduce legislation which would authorize a buyout of grazing permits on federal lands. A letter signed by the NCBA, the Public Lands Council and the American Farm Bureau Federation was sent to every House member urging support for “continued multiple use of public lands and opposition to federal grazing permit buyout legislation.”

The buyout program would allow a federal grazing permittee to sell his permit back to the federal government. The associated grazing allotment would then be permanently retired from domestic livestock grazing use. Costs for the buyout have been estimated at $3.3 billion.

Rep. Scott McInnis (R-Colo.) Sept. 25 sent a “dear colleague” letter urging opposition to the buyout legislation. McInnis says the effort is being funded by radical environmentalists who want to end grazing on public lands.  He says “these groups have vigorous and well-funded legal teams that bankrupt ranchers while delaying and obstructing extensions of their grazing permits.

“Many communities in the West are heavily dependent on ranches and public lands grazing, so eliminating grazing on public lands or similar steps toward that goal disproportionately impact the West.” 

Federal land grazing plays an important role in many rural economies. “Forty percent of Western beef cattle inventories spend some time grazing on public lands,” says Jeff Eisenberg, Council executive director and director of federal lands for NCBA. “Federal land grazing helps economically support individual families as well as communities in which ranching is important.” 

Also, preserving rural landscapes and open space native to the West is at issue.  The American Farmland Trust reports that 11 percent of all prime ranchland in the Rocky Mountain West, which translates into nearly 9 million acres, is threatened by conversion to residential development by 2020. 

Eisenberg says other important benefits of public land grazing include fuel-load reductions, which help decrease wildfires.