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TRAFFIC

Ranchers unhappy about rules that open state land to leases for conservation, recreation

Rocky Barker - rbarker@idahostatesman.com

Copyright: © 2010 Idaho Statesman

Published: 01/22/10

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Joe Jaszewski / Idaho Statesman

Rancher Charlie Lyons, who runs cattle near Mountain Home, listens to Idaho Rangeland Resource Commission's Gretchen Hyde during the Weiser River Cattle Association meeting in Cambridge, ID on Thursday. Lyons fears new rules that open up leasing of state lands to conservation groups will result in ranchers losing access to grazing land they've used in the past. "If you open up that mind-set that non-use is the best use...you open up that possibility," he said. "It's a difficult battle."

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

ABOUT THE IDAHO DEPARTMENT OF LANDS

The Department of Lands manages the state's endowment lands for the Idaho Land Board, also called the Board of Land Commissioners. It also administers the Forest Practices Act that regulates logging and mining reclamation laws, and it staffs the Oil and Gas Commission. The agency has 225 employees and uses about $4 million annually in general funds.

What is the Idaho Land Board?

In 1890, when Idaho became a state, the federal government gave the state more than 3.6 million acres. That land was put into an endowment to raise money for schools. Over the years, about 1 million acres have been sold and other parcels have been picked up in trades, leaving the state with 2.4 million acres. That land comes under the control of the Idaho Land Board.

Who makes up the land board?

® Gov. Butch Otter

® Secretary of State Ben Ysursa

® Attorney General Lawrence Wasden

® Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna

® State Controller Donna Jones

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T he news that Hailey conservationist Jon Marvel had been cited for making false statements to the Bureau of Land Management spread through the ranching community like the Murphy Springs fire.
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Marvel and Gordon Younger paid the fine on the charge they liken to a traffic ticket. Marvel and his attorney say the charge is unfounded. By paying, they avoided a long costly legal battle that would put the 72-year-old Younger through an ordeal he wants to avoid while he fights cancer.
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Mike Hanley, a well-known rancher who helped Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo pass legislation to protect ranching and wilderness in the remote southwest corner of the state, could lose his privileges on public land.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has proposed denying a permit to Hanley, who lives in Jordan Valley, Ore., and grazes his cattle in Owyhee County. Hanley is a historian and author who reached out to environmentalists seeking common ground on wilderness and grazing issues in Owyhee County.
He said he could not talk about the BLM decision, which he is appealing, upon advice of his lawyer. But he said it had nothing to do with the legislation passed in 2009, which he still supports.

The Idaho Land Board sought to end a decade-old battle over grazing endowment lands in 2009 by approving rules to make it possible for conservationists and sporting groups to bid for state land leases long exclusive to cattle and sheep raisers.

Now the Idaho Legislature must decide whether to veto the rules - aimed at increasing funds for schools - or let them pass. The Idaho Cattle Association hopes for a constitutional amendment that can keep ranchers from being forced off of lands they have always used that are integral parts of their businesses.

The 1.8 million acres of state grazing land have long been identified by financial experts and economists as an under-performing asset among the state's 2.4 million acres of endowment lands - lands left to the state by the federal government when Idaho was formed. The Idaho Constitution requires the Land Board - made up of the governor, attorney general, secretary of state, controller, treasurer and state schools superintendent - to maximize the long-term return for the schools and other trustees.

"The Constitution doesn't say protect their way of life," Attorney General Lawrence Wasden said of ranchers. "It doesn't say protect the ecological system."

But critics say the move won't necessarily bring in more money in the long run.

Conservation groups and others may initially pay more for the grazing lands, but the next time the bids come up, the ranchers won't be in the auction and the prices will go down, said Carl Ellsworth of Leadore, president of the Idaho Cattle Association. Groups more interested in forcing a larger debate on all public lands grazing will target state leases that are critical to an entire grazing allotment that includes federal and state land.

Plus, the economic impacts for the state go beyond the simple lease deals, he said.

"Conservation leases are not going to provide the same rural benefit to our rural communities as ranchers," Ellsworth said. "We've lost our mining already, and we've lost our logging. We can't afford to lose ranching, too."

Hailey architect and conservationist Jon Marvel began his campaign to highlight how little ranchers were paying to graze on state lands in 1993, when he began competing for grazing bids. Marvel mostly was critical of the condition in which ranchers were leaving the streambanks, which are important habitat for fish and wildlife.

Previous land boards threw up barriers to Marvel and his now West-wide group, the Western Watersheds Project. The decisions were often led by longtime GOP Secretary of State Pete Cenarrusa, a sheep rancher, but the sentiment spanned both parties.

"I was raised on a cattle ranch," said then-Controller J.D. Williams, a Democrat, when explaining a vote against Marvel in 1995. "Grazing has a very unique place in our state."

But the cases went to the Idaho Supreme Court, which repeatedly ruled that the board had to make its decisions solely on its trust responsibility to maximize the long-term return on the land's value.

The board formally recognized conservation in 2007 along with the need to reduce administrative costs and expand leasing, said Bob Brammer, who oversees grazing management for the Idaho Department of Lands.

The state had been repeatedly losing money on its grazing lands, but in 2008 it made a profit of $213,358 on revenues of $1, 570,109.

Ranchers who had no competitive bids might pay around $250 annually to graze on about 400 acres. But the same land, when bid competitively with conservationists, could bring in up to an additional $4,000 to $5,000 for a 10-year permit.

The Land Board already was studying how to increase its return from grazing lands when a federal lawsuit by an organization called the Lazy Y Ranch, set up to purchase grazing leases, led to a judgment against each of the Land Board members personally. The federal courts said the board had arbitrarily kept the Lazy Y from winning bids and had violated the civil rights of its owner, Gordon Younger.

The board already had rewritten the rules to clearly allow conservation and recreation interests to fairly compete for range land leases and reduce administrative costs. The new rules became the basis of the settlement agreement.

"If people are willing to pay for that, it's better for the schools, it's better for the land and makes sense," said Laird Lucas, the lead attorney for Advocates of the West, which has handled most of the legal challenges to the board.

Lucas doesn't think the leasing will affect all ranchers. Conservation leases will be targeting the most important fish and wildlife habitat and the scenic lands. Brammer said the department will seek to have multiple leases where possible.

For instance, a recreation group could lease the land for a short period with only minor inconvenience to the livestock lease. Or a conservation group could lease an area to protect the values it wants while allowing other activities, including ranching, to sublet the area under its guidelines, Brammer said.

The Idaho Cattle Association is working on a constitutional amendment it hopes to present to the Legislature so the current rules would not be necessary, Ellsworth said. But the federal law that established Idaho as a state also requires the Land Board to get a maximum return on the endowment lands, Wasden said.

"Changing the Constitution is not going to change the question of how do you market the lands and how do you improve return," Lucas said.

Rocky Barker: 377-6484

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TRAFFIC

Ranchers unhappy about rules that open state land to leases for conservation, recreation

Rocky Barker - rbarker@idahostatesman.com

Copyright: © 2010 Idaho Statesman

Published: 01/22/10

Email Story

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

ABOUT THE IDAHO DEPARTMENT OF LANDS

Similar stories:

BLM fines conservationists over grazing permit

Barker: Anti-grazing advocate comes with a rough edge

Idaho at forefront of collaboration on public land use

Crapo announces first Owyhee land acquisitions

Idaho rancher may lose grazing permit

IdahoStatesman.com