Ranchers look to roll back state land grazing rule

The Idaho Cattle Association is working on a constitutional amendment designed to nullify a proposed rule that gives sportsmen and conservation groups the chance to compete for grazing leases on state land. The cattleman's group hopes to introduce the amendment in the Legislature this year. It targets rules adopted by the Idaho Land Board last year that await approval by the 2010 Legislature. The land board, seeking to end years of legal wrangling over state policy for managing leases on about 1.8 million acres of endowment lands, drafted a rule that clears the way for conservation groups, sportsmen and others to bid on leases. For decades, those leases have been the exclusive domain of cattle and sheep ranchers. If approved by lawmakers, livestock producers contend the rule would harm the industry and a way of life. They also say the rule would enable groups more interested in forcing a wider debate on all public lands grazing to target leases critical to specific allotments that also include federal land...read more