About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline

LOG IN
LOG IN


2023 Utah L. Rev. 197 (2023)
Opening the Range: Reforms to Allow Markets for Voluntary Conservation on Federal Grazing Lands

handle is hein.journals/utahlr2023 and id is 196 raw text is: OPENING THE RANGE: REFORMS TO ALLOW MARKETS FOR VOLUNTARY CONSERVATION ON FEDERAL GRAZING LANDS Shawn Regan,* Temple Stoellinger** & Jonathan Wood*** Abstract For nearly a century, the federal government has authorized ranchers to graze livestock on large areas offederal lands in the western United States. Federal-land grazing has generated substantial conflict in recent decades, as conservation interests and others have lobbied and litigated against what they view as inappropriate and destructive use of federal lands. This has produced a predictable backlash among ranching interests, including efforts to roll back the regulations relied on by environmental litigants and aggressive confrontations with federal regulators. But such conflict is not inevitable. Competing demands on these lands can be resolved through voluntary means and positive incentives for conservation practices, as they often are on private lands. On public lands, however, federal law erects substantial barriers to this market approach by imposing use-it-or-lose-it rules on federal grazing permits. In this Article, we discuss those barriers and offer statutory and regulatory reforms that would overcome them while facilitating markets for conservation on federal grazing lands. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................... 198 I. THE FEDERAL-LAND GRAZING INSTITUTION ...................................................203 A . G razing in the W ild W est.............................................................................204 B. The Foundation of the US. Grazing Institution..........................................205 C. Incorporating Modern Environmental Regulation into the Institution....... 208 D. Continuing Conflict over Federal Grazing.................................................211 II. MARKETS FOR VOLUNTARY CONSERVATION ON FEDERAL GRAZING L A N D S ...................................................................................................................2 1 3 A. The Case for Allowing Markets for Voluntary Conservation......................216 B . A nxieties A bout this M arket......................................................................... 2 19 III. BARRIERS TO MARKETS FOR VOLUNTARY CONSERVATION ON FEDERAL G R A Z IN G L A N D S ...................................................................................................2 2 3 A. Ownership or Control of Base Property ..................................................... 223 B. Stock Ownership Requirement .................................................................... 225 C. Substantial Use R equirem ents.....................................................................226 D. The Impermanence of Grazing Permit Decisions .......................................229 IV. POTENTIAL POLICY PATHWAYS ..................................................................... 231 A. Administrative Pathways ............................................................................. 231 * © 2023 Shawn Regan. Property and Environment Research Center (PERC). ** © 2023 Temple Stoellinger. University of Wyoming Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources and College of Law. *** © 2023 Jonathan Wood. Property and Environment Research Center (PERC). 197