Idaho Watersheds Project has learned this morning (5/15/2000) that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in a unanimous decision that the appeal by the Public Lands Council and other groups of Bruce Babbitt's Range Reform Regulations of 1995 has no legal basis and that the Court rejected all the arguments that ranchers on public lands have a vested grazing "right"!
This decision which eliminates virtually all claims to a property right for grazing on public lands may well signal the acceleration of the end of public lands ranching since banks will no longer accept grazing permits as collateral for loans and the value of permits will decline significantly because of the loss of any ability of ranchers to demand financial compensation when grazing is reduced or eliminated by the BLM on public lands.
This is a truly great day for the recovery and restoration of damaged public lands across the west and for the people of the United States!