In a precedent setting action, IWP has appealed a BLM decision to transfer and reissue a grazing permit between two of the largest ranchers in Idaho and the west covering approximately 125,000 acres of public lands and over 14,000 AUMs in Twin Falls and Owyhee Counties, Idaho. The permit transfer is part of a pending ranch purchase by Idaho's billionaire potato king, J.R. Simplot, who is also among the largest 5 public lands ranchers in the United States (Simplot's cattle use over 1,000,000 acres of public lands). In a related transfer, IWP has protested The proposed decision to transfer (as part of the same ranch sale) a BLM grazing permit south of the Idaho border in Nevada for an additional 1600 AUMS.
Because IWP also filed a petition for stay with the appeal, the BLM is prevented for at least 45 days from implementing the permit transfer pending a decision on the stay request. The grounds for the appeal include violation of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Federal Land Policy Management Act (FLPMA), and BLM regulations which require management which protects public resources such as riparian areas and declining native species like sage grouse and spotted frogs. The BLM's proposal mandated continuing existing management notwithstanding evidence of many areas degraded by livestock use on the nine allotments involved in the ranch sale.
The stay, if granted, will probably result in the nixing of the ranch sale, thereby underlining the unstable nature of rancher permit tenure on public lands in the west.