WESTERN RANCHERS’ PRIVACY PROTECTED

WASHINGTON (Nov. 26, 2001) - The Public Lands Council (PLC) applauds the Department of Justice’s decision to withdraw its appeal of a pivotal decision protecting western ranchers’ privacy.

On Nov. 21, the Department of Justice filed a motion to withdraw its appeal of a New Mexico District Judge’s ruling that the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) violated the Freedom of Information Act and the Forest Service’s own regulations.

Judge Mechem ruled on January 15, 2001, that the USFS’s decision to release financial information to radical environmental activist group the Forest Guardians was arbitrary and capricious and violated the law.

“The withdrawal of the appeal means that Judge Mechem’s ruling now stands and further preserves ranchers’ right to privacy,” PLC Associate Director Scott Klundt said. “It has been a tough two year battle, but the cattle industry prevailed in the end.”

The Forest Guardians, a group that opposes federal lands ranching, sued the USFS to gain access to an array of private financial information regarding federal lands ranchers’ grazing permits. The USFS attempted to settle the case by granting the Forest Guardians access to ranchers’ escrow waivers.

Escrow waivers are forms used by the USFS that allow a bank to control a grazing permit should the bank foreclose on a rancher’s loan. The Guardians claimed the Freedom of Information Act entitled the public to the information.

Besides PLC, the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association and the Production Credit Association of New Mexico intervened in the lawsuit. A coalition of wholesale lenders also intervened on behalf of banking interests.

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The Public Lands Council represents permittees who hold leases and permits to graze livestock on the federal lands in the West administered by the Bureau of Land Management and the United States Forest Service.  It also coordinates the federal-lands policies of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, American Sheep Industry Association and the Association of National Grasslands.  PLC is dedicated to the principle of sound management of federal lands for grazing and other multiple-use purposes.