Ranchers react to ruling on grazing permits

Idaho ranchers expressed disappointment with Monday’s U.S. District Court ruling requiring the Bureau of Land Management to release the names and addresses of grazing permit holders. “We see this as an invasion of privacy,” said Wyatt Prescott, executive vice president of the Idaho Cattlemen’s Association. The Western Watersheds Project and WildEarth Guardians sued for the information under the Freedom of Information Act, and the judge ruled that the public’s need to know about public land use outweighed any privacy concerns. Jon Marvel, Western Watersheds executive director, said the ruling forwarded the cause of transparency in government. Prescott said Marvel’s intent had little to do with transparency. “This is just part of an anti-grazing agenda,” Prescott said. “This is a threat to those families, but not from the standpoint that they’re doing anything wrong.” Prescott said Western Watersheds has the resources to tie ranchers up in litigation until they go broke. He said that would affect the vast majority of Idaho cattle ranchers because most use public land, including corporations such as J.R. Simplot Co. and Agri Beef Co...more