The contentious saga of New Mexico rancher Kit Laney points to all that is wrong with public lands ranching in the arid West.

Laney is the Catron County, N.M. rancher who defied Forest Service directives and a federal court order to remove his cattle from federal land for overgrazing the Gila National Forest. He was arrested and indicted on eight federal charges.

The U.S. Supreme Court has long held that livestock grazing on public lands is not a right but a revocable privilege. While Laney's misguided beliefs and actions are not representative of public-lands ranchers in the West, he is not alone in his economic plight. His case sets in bold relief the state of emergency that now exists for ranchers who rely on the drought-stricken public lands of the West to support them.

Across the West, drought, environmental regulations, litigation and conflicts with other public uses have led to reductions in grazing on public lands. Conditions even worse than those of 2003 are predicted for the next three years. Beef markets are changing, and public-lands ranchers feel the pinch.

John Whitney III, a fourth-generation rancher who holds the largest U.S. Forest Service grazing permit in Arizona, is one of them. Whitney's 1 58,000-acre Sunflower allotment in Tonto National Forest northeast of Phoenix has been closed for three years due to drought. Since 1996, grazing in the Tonto, which comprises 3 million acres, has been cut by 94 percent of the maximum permitted level.

Whitney explains: "The whole situation has changed down here with new restrictions and recreation just going through the roof. It's got to the point where I really need to move my operation to somewhere more suitable. But I have so much invested here. I really should get something back."

There is a solution to the plight of public-lands ranchers. The Voluntary Grazing Permit Buyout Act and the Arizona Voluntary Grazing Permit Buyout Act, bills introduced in the House of Representatives by Reps. Christopher Shays (R. Connecticut) and Rep. Grijalva (D-Arizona), would compensate public lands ranchers who choose to relinquish their federal grazing permits.

American taxpayers pay about $500 million annually to subsidize grazing on 257 million acres of public lands (grazing fees return to the treasury only $7 million). The buyout bills would not only provide a safety net for cash-strapped public lands ranchers but would also produce enormous savings by reducing the need for this subsidy.

"Buying out federal grazing permits is good for western states and the entire nation," says 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," says 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."

Under both bills, the public lands allotment associated with a grazing permit would be permanently retired from commercial livestock grazing, freeing the land for alternative uses including recreation, hunting, fishing, wildlife conservation and watershed management.

The generous compensation to ranchers would allow them to restructure their business on private lands, transition to another business, pay off loans or retire.

We no longer live in the Old West. Time magazine estimates that 328,000 ranchers and farmers will lose their jobs in this decade alone. The scenario facing the 24,000 ranchers who operate on the most marginal lands - public lands - is bleak and getting bleaker.

The legislation is a win-win solution for permittees, taxpayers and the environment. A voluntary grazing buyout program would heal the land as well as the wounds of ranchers caught in a box like Laney, with nowhere to turn for relief as the sun sets on public lands ranching in the West.

Justin Baca is the Washington, D.C. representative for the National Public Lands Grazing Campaign (www.publiclandsranching.org).