Reps. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) and Raśl Grijalva
(D-Ariz.) have introduced legislation to enact a voluntary federal grazing
permit buyout program that would compensate public lands ranchers and could eventually protect 257 million acres of federal public lands in the United
States.
The Voluntary Grazing Permit Buyout Act (H.R. 3324,
"Shays-Grijalva") would allow federal public lands ranchers to waive their
interest in grazing permits in exchange for compensation in the amount of $175/animal unit month (or AUM, the amount of forage to sustain one cow and calf
for one month). The bill authorizes $100 million for the program, enough money
to retire an estimated 7.8 million acres of federal lands grazed by domestic
livestock.
The Arizona Voluntary Grazing Permit Buyout Act is a similar
bill that applies specifically to Arizona.
"Buying out federal grazing
permits is good for western states and the entire nation," said Shays. "It benefits our nation's environment and budget, while providing a lucrative offer
to ranchers who want to sell their permits."
"This legislation will go a
long way toward resolving the ongoing and contentious debate on public lands grazing in the West," said Grijalva. "Congressman Shays and I have introduced a
bill that will give much needed relief to ranching families suffering the
results of drought and other economic factors. At the same time, the bill will
allow for the restoration of public lands that are no longer suitable for
grazing. It is a win-win solution to what for many years was viewed as
unsolvable."
Under both bills, the public lands allotment associated with
a grazing permit would be permanently retired from commercial livestock grazing
and the forage re-allocated to wildlife and watersheds. The bills are designed
as pilot programs to determine the effectiveness and efficiency of the
approach.
"It's a relief that Congress is finally seeing past all the
theories and paying attention to the reality on the ground," said John Whitney
III, a fourth-generation rancher who holds the largest U.S. Forest Service
grazing permit in Arizona. Whitney's 158,000-acre Sunflower allotment in Tonto
National Forest northeast of Phoenix has been closed for three years because of
drought.
The buyout program was conceived by the National Public Lands Grazing
Campaign, which seeks to end abusive livestock grazing on America's public
lands. The goal of the NPLGC is to provide a solution to the largest
conservation issue in the West - livestock grazing - and a financial alternative
for cash strapped public lands ranchers with investments stranded in grazing
permits.
The buyout proposal was introduced to nearly 26,000 public lands
ranchers in April 2002. It is endorsed by nearly 200 conservation groups,
including the Sierra Club.
In a recent poll conducted by the Arizona
Grazing Permit Buyout Campaign, 154 permittees (68 percent of all respondents)
of the state's 870 federal public lands ranchers supported the bill. Eleven
others have since added their support.
"We know this is just the tip of
the iceberg," said John Whitney IV, steering committee chairman of the Arizona
buyout campaign. "A lot of permittees have told us they support a buyout, but
they just couldn't believe it would ever happen. Well, now it is
happening."
If all federal grazing permittees availed themselves of the buyout
offer, the plan would effectively retire a federal welfare program that costs
American taxpayers more than $500 million annually in subsidies for public lands
ranching operations. A complete buyout of all federal public lands grazed by
livestock would cost taxpayers $3.1 billion but provide a net savings of $12.6
billion.
Federal public lands produce only 2 percent of the nation's
total livestock feed and beef. Contributions from public lands grazing to state
and local economies are miniscule. As the cost of ranching continues to
increase, the capital value of federal grazing permits continues to
decline.
The Shays-Grijalva bills would pay federal permittees well above
market value to relinquish their grazing permits. Under the plan, a permittee
with 300 cow/calf pairs that graze public lands for five months of the year
would receive $262,000.
The buyout program would also diminish decades of
environmental destruction caused by livestock grazing. In its Global 2000
report, the Council on Environmental Quality noted that "improvident grazing...has been the most potent desertification force, in terms of total acreage,
within the United States."
"To protect endangered species and ensure
water quality on public lands, the federal government encourages citizens to sue
violators, even the government itself," said Andy Kerr, director of the NPLGC. "The 'stick' approach is important, but environmentalists also want the
government to implement the 'carrot' approach."
Time magazine estimates
that 328,000 ranchers and farmers will lose their jobs in this decade
alone. "A federal grazing permit buyout is ecologically imperative, economically
rational, fiscally prudent, socially just and politically pragmatic," said Kerr.
"It's a win-win-win for permittees, taxpayers and the environment."