From Preference Rights to Grazing Allotments: Why Ranchers Own their Allotments By Angus McIntosh PhD Director Natural Resource Law & Policy Research Land and Water USA Foundation There are a lot of US Supreme Court decisions on the subject of…
While the armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge grabbed the world’s attention, a quieter struggle over federal lands is being waged by those trying to use elections and the levers of government. Their grandparents and great-grandparents wrested a…
The lawsuit, filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for Utah, involves Kane County, Big Horn County, Wyo.; Chaves County, New Mexico; Custer County, Idaho; Garfield County, Colorado; Modoc County, California, and the Dona Ana Soil and Water Conservation District…
Though it aims to protect sacred space and preserve archaeological sites, a monument would actually tame the wild, overrun the spiritual, enforce webs of rules and fees, bring busloads of tourists, trivialize landmarks through ad campaigns, cater to those with…
Despite all the media attention on the trial, many have overlooked the underlying issues that make federal lands so contentious in the first place. Nearly half of the entire western United States is controlled by federal land agencies. Shawn Regan…
In a new report, the Government Accountability Office criticizes public lands agencies for poor management of grazing permits. The watchdog says conflicts and armed standoffs over grazing rights, like the one in 2014 in Nevada, would be less likely if public land…
Grazing rights are inherently tenuous because agencies continually reallocate rangeland resources and adjust grazing privileges to meet changing political conditions. Moreover, without the right to acquire grazing permits for conservation uses, environmental groups are forced to rely on these changing…
In January 2016, an armed militia group seized control of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon. Their goal: to protest federal control over western rangelands. It’s the latest episode in a long history of conflicts over the use…
Once the bison’s value as an ecological curiosity increased, efforts to preserve the species became successful. Today, there are numerous bison ranches, some of which produce bison for the meat market. The National Bison Association reports that there are 450,000…
Montana lawmakers push for tribal bison hunts in Yellowstone By MATTHEW BROWN from Capital Press BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A Montana legislative committee that wants to limit Yellowstone National Park’s growing herds of bison from leaving the park sent a…