Background
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In 1997, 68 grazing permits in Owyhee County, Idaho were scheduled for renewal.
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In 1999, the U.S. District Court agreed with Western Watersheds
Project (WWP) that the BLM violated NEPA in their permit renewal process.
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In 2008, WWP and BLM reached a settlement agreement which required the completion of the permit renewals by December 2013.
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The allotments were divided into five groups for the purposes of preparing
EAs/EISs.
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The two decisions in Group 1were released in March and April 2013. The remaining decisions for Groups 2-5 were finalized in December 2013.
Impact of the Decisions
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By the numbers, there are 154 allotments within the Owyhee Resource Area. 120 of these are included in this permit renewal and litigation.
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For many of the allotments, the AUM reductions are drastic, ranging in cuts from
35% to 47 % in active use AUMs (in reality, the cuts will be far greater when factors such as water availability are considered).
What Do the Decisions Contain?
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Throughout this process, BLM has capitulated to the extremist anti-grazing group,
Western Watersheds Project. These decisions are driven by BLM’s desire to stay out of court, not by sound land management principles. Further, the agency has repeatedly used the court as their excuse for not being able to adequately do their job.
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The decisions are made from a narrow sage grouse perspective. For example, the chosen alternative for Group 1 was based wholly on limiting season of use in priority sage grouse habitat (which comprises 70-100% of land in the allotments).
It greatly limits grazing during the active growing season.

Where Did the BLM Go Wrong?
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BLM refused to consider permittee proposed range improvements that would improve rangeland management.
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While BLM slightly acknowledged the socio-economic impacts in their final decision, they failed to adequately consider economic impact to permittees and the cumulative economic impacts on Owyhee County and on Idaho’s cattle industry. BLM says they have no other choice because of the court-mandated process.
 The BLM’s focus on reducing AUMs in the name of sage grouse is completely misguided. The decision relies on grazing and sage grouse studies that do not apply to the land or grazing systems contained within the allotments. They also didn’t take into account, or even consider, the Governor’s sage grouse management plan because, again, they didn’t have time.
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The BLM completely disregards the impact of reduced AUMs on the potential for increased wildfire.
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The entire premise of these decisions is faulty. The BLM did not comply with its own monitoring guidelines in performing its FRH analysis and determinations.
The FRH determinations appear to overstate impacts – which are a result of failing to follow the agency’s guidelines for the collection of monitoring data.
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The BLM is attempting to control use of private and state lands by requiring certain management actions on federal lands that are intermingled with those private/state-owned lands.
Current Industry Litigation Efforts
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As soon as the first EA was released, ICA began work to develop a coalition of organizations to join in the fight against the BLM. This coalition-building process is ongoing and is key to allow us both the resources to carry out the necessary litigation and the strong united voice of various organizations.
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ICA, along with the Public Lands Council (PLC), National Cattlemen’s Beef
Association (NCBA), and the Owyhee Cattlemen’s Association (OCA), have appealed the two Group 1 decisions. The court dates are set for July 2014.
Because these were the first decisions released, they will set the course for all of the following decisions and we must be engaged from the onset.
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ICA, PLC, NCBA, and OCA were joined by Idaho Farm Bureau Federation to file appeals on most of the remaining decisions in Groups 2-5.
 Our attorney is coordinating with the permittees’ attorneys to ensure that we collectively address all of the issues. It is our chief intent that our coalition’s litigation efforts compliment, but not overlap those of the permittees’ allotmentspecific complaints. We will address those issues that have the greatest potential to negatively impact the public lands grazing industry.
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ICA has worked closely with the affected permittees throughout this process to encourage their active participation in the process and to assist them in preparing comments.
Idaho Cattle Association . PO Box 15397 . Boise, Idaho 83715
Phone: 208-343-1615 . Fax: 208-344-6695 . Email: info@idahocattle.org