Western Watersheds Project and the American Lands Alliance have sued top political appointees in the Bureau of Land Management, including director Kathleen Clarke and deputy director Francis Cherry, for allowing a wealthy Wyoming rancher, Frank Robbins, to violate federal grazing laws.

The lawsuit targets a settlement between the BLM and Robbins that is the subject of a separate Inspector General investigation about improper political favoritism by the agency.

Below is a full story on the Robbins saga reported by Brodie Farquhar in the Sept. 29 edition of High Country News and reprinted by permission of the publication.

Reckless rancher cuts sweet deal in D.C.; Bush administration orders local BLM office to back off
THERMOPOLIS, WYOMING - Tip to toe, Harvey Frank Robbins Jr. looks every inch a Wyoming rancher. He's tall and whipcord slender, with flecks of gray in his moustache and the deep sunburn that comes from years spent outside.

His work-toughened hands fidget with a shovel when he's interrupted in his task of spilling water from an irrigation ditch into a verdant field. He's hesitant to talk to a reporter. But as he chops stray weeds into compost, his words start to flow - words that tear into the federal Bureau of Land Management.

Many ranchers complain about federal agencies. Robbins, however, is way beyond anger. His is a cold, bitter rage, focused on the BLM's Worland field office, which manages public-lands grazing in the area. "No one is going to tell me what to do with my property," Robbins says.

His definition of his personal property seems to include the public lands he leases. He has been charged with breaking many grazing regulations, and he's clashed head-on with the federal regulators. It's gotten so ugly that he bypassed the local BLM staffers and brokered a unique deal with top officials in the Bush administration's Department of Interior, forcing the locals to back off.

A cowboy with connections
Scion of a wealthy Alabama family with solid Republican Party connections, Robbins moved to Wyoming in 1994, "to hunt and ranch," as he puts it. He's purchased three ranches the High Island Ranch, the HD Ranch and the Owl Creek Land Co., totaling about 55,000 acres of private land and 55,000 acres leased from the BLM. He runs a cow/calf operation, and sells the cattle-drive experience to tourists.

As soon as Robbins moved in, his notions of an independent ranching life quickly collided with BLM regulations. He reportedly balked at requirements that he cooperate in the monitoring of grazing impacts and allow BLM staffers access to BLM land.

BLM files are filled with complaints about Robbins' operation: cattle trespassing on the private property of neighbors and on the neighbors' BLM grazing allotments; grazing too early, too late, and putting too many cattle on his allotments; blocking a neighbor's use of a cattle-drive trail; claiming his cattle were on private pasture when they were on BLM pastures; refusing to obtain recreation permits for his dude ranch trail drives over BLM lands; and refusing to modify his grazing practices during drought.

As the struggle developed, the local BLM staffers tried to deny grazing permits to his ranches, and even contemplated seizing his herd. For years, lawsuits and counter-lawsuits volleyed back and forth. At one point, Robbins was charged with interfering with the work of federal officers; he was acquitted in a jury trial in 1998.

"Mr. Robbins has shown a complete disregard for the terms and conditions of the permits and of the authority of the BLM to manage public lands," Darrell Barnes, manager of the Worland office, said in a memo to the director of BLM's Wyoming operations in March 2002. "His conduct was so lacking in reasonableness or responsibility that it became reckless or negligent and placed significant, undue stress/damage on the public land resources."

Robbins contested many of the charges, claiming harassment, and found a receptive audience when he traveled to Washington in 2002, to complain to higher officials in the BLM and Interior Department. By January 2003, he'd secured the settlement agreement. The 17-page document is remarkable in numerous ways. Nine years of Robbins' alleged violations were essentially forgiven, Robbins can continue to graze his cattle on BLM allotments, he gains considerable flexibility in grazing management, and grazing levels are set without conducting an environmental assessment. In turn, Robbins agrees to allow the BLM access to BLM lands that he leases.

The settlement will be in effect until January 2005. While it lasts, only two people can cite Robbins for violations of BLM regulations: BLM Director Kathleen Clarke and the Wyoming director, Bob Bennett.

The Worland staffers are keeping their heads down and not talking, but privately, they remain angry - as are environmentalists. "The only thing that the United States government got out of this agreement, was out of the way," says Jeff Ruch, director of PEER, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.

Robbins' lawyer, Karen Budd-Falen, who specializes in property-rights lawsuits against the government, says he is committed to living up to the settlement. But the Worland BLM office reports that Robbins has violated it by continuing to trample grazing regulations.

Meanwhile, the Inspector General of the Interior Department is investigating the legality of the settlement. Several environmental groups are threatening to sue to overturn it. And Robbins has one remaining active lawsuit, alleging that eight current or former BLM staffers conspired against him in violation of a federal racketeering law. That case is scheduled for trial in federal court in Cheyenne Dec. 8.

Reprinted by permission of High Country News. Copyright 2003 High Country News.