The Changing of the Cattle Guard: BLM's New Approach to Grazing Qualifications

Abstract

This article traces the history of the four qualifications requirements for applicants seeking grazing permits on public domain lands under Bureau of Land Management jurisdiction: (1) citizenship/residency, (2) livestock ownership, (3) base property and (4) grazing preference. The article discusses the origins of these four requirements in the common grazing practices on the federal range in the early twentieth century, when grazing was unregulated, then discusses the extent to which they are explicitly or impliedly incorporated into the Taylor Grazing Act, and finally, explains the regulatory history of each requirement from 1934 to the present. The article concludes that BLM’s new qualifications model, which has opened the application process to non-traditional applicants such as conservation organizations, and which was recently upheld by the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in Stewart v. Kempthorne, will help the agency more easily accomplish its goals under various land management statutes, which should in turn allow the federal rangelands to regenerate after years of intensive livestock grazing.