The National Public Lands Grazing Campaign (NPLGC)

A Federal Grazing Allotment Retirement Proposal

A coalition of Western conservationists has organized the National Public Lands Grazing Campaign (NPLGC). It includes advocating for federal legislation to create a financial mechanism to encourage public lands grazing permittees to voluntarily surrender their grazing permits on the condition that the associated federal livestock grazing allotment is permanently retired from grazing.

Further information is provided on the NPLGC's web site at: http://www.publiclandsranching.org.

If you want to receive updates in your e-mail, you can subscribe to the NPLGC's e-mail list by simply sending a blank e-mail to: NPLGC-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

Specific questions about the campaign can be sent to Mark Salvo at: mark@sagegrouse.org.

If you support a grazing allotment retirement strategy, please e-mail or write your Congressional delegation and urge them to support one.

Also, please e-mail or write the President and ask him to support one.

Legal Background

According to current law, federal grazing permits are not private property but the granting of a privilege by the government that may be revised or revoked at any time for good cause. Subsequently, any grazing permit buyout program using government money cannot legally buy grazing permits. The widely held notion that public lands grazing permits may be bought and sold arises from the fact that the owner of the private ranch base property nearest to a federal grazing allotment is most likely the person that will be issued the grazing permit for that allotment. This has led to the real estate market inflating the value of a base property to reflect the likelihood that its owner will be granted the permit for the allotment. What a ranch buyer is really getting is the opportunity to be first in line to obtain the grazing permit.