Current through Bulletin 2024-18, September 15, 2024
(1) The
division may issue a grazing permit for domestic livestock grazing to manage
vegetation on division lands if the division determines domestic livestock
prescribed grazing is necessary for the maintenance or improvement of wildlife
habitat.
(2) Domestic livestock
grazing on division lands shall occur only under the permission, provisions,
and authority given in a grazing permit issued by the division.
(3) Grazing permits may be issued by the
division through a proposal solicitation to achieve the division's vegetation
or habitat management goals.
(a) Proposals
for grazing permits may be solicited through publication on the division
website or in one or more newspapers of general circulation in the county in
which the grazing permit is offered. Notification may be sent to landowners
adjoining the subject division lands, and to livestock operators having federal
permits to graze a federal allotment adjacent to division lands.
(b) At the conclusion of the advertising
process, the division shall review and select the preferred applicant using any
of the following criteria. The division shall have full discretion to select
which criteria to use.
(i) Resources available
to applicant that can be used to control livestock movement on the subject
division lands;
(ii) Applicant's
ability to meet grazing permit or prescribed management objectives;
(iii) Benefits to wildlife and wildlife
habitat that could be expected from applicant's proposal;
(iv) Applicant's demonstrated sound range and
agricultural management practices on applicant's property or other property
used by applicant;
(v) Applicant's
knowledge of principles of range science, range management, or
agriculture;
(vi) Applicant's prior
history of satisfactory or unsatisfactory use of division lands;
(vii) Applicant's right to the use of
adjoining or nearby properties with which management of division lands may be
coordinated;
(viii) Proximity of
applicant's property to division lands;
(ix) Functionality of subject division lands
perimeter fences in controlling livestock movement on or off the subject
property;
(x) The size of area upon
which the applicant can achieve the division's wildlife or vegetation
management goals, thereby reducing the division's administrative
costs;
(xi) Amount or value of the
compensation offered to the division, including the satisfaction of a minimum
quantity or quality of compensation, whether monetary, in-kind, or both, if
minimum standards are required by the division.
(c) The division shall have full authority
to:
(i) Offer counter-proposals;
(ii) Negotiate with any or all applicants to
create a proposal which best satisfies the vegetation or wildlife management
objectives of the division;
(iii)
Terminate the negotiation process entirely;
(iv) Require the respondents to meet
privately with the division and present its proposal for the grazing permit
application. The division may request parties other than those responding to
the initial solicitation to meet with the division; or
(v) Offer the opportunity to current
permittees re-applying for the same permit at the conclusion of the available
10 years of renewals to match any better offer received during the solicitation
process. This right is to be exercised at the sole discretion of the agency and
is intended to assist keeping exemplary grazers on the landscape when they have
already demonstrated an exemplary grazing history.
(d) Any party in default on a previous
obligation to the division may be disqualified from obtaining a grazing permit
from the division.
(e) In the event
an unanticipated prescribed grazing treatment is necessary for division lands,
the division may enter into a contract with any livestock operator the division
determines can provide the prescribed grazing treatment in a timely manner
without soliciting competitive proposals; however, grazing permits issued under
this paragraph shall not contain an option to renew and the duration shall be
limited to the current grazing season.
(f) Grazing permits may be issued to grazing
permittees of adjacent public lands when division lands lack infrastructure
such as fencing to manage grazing separately from bordering public lands, such
as Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, or State Institutional Trust
Lands.
(4) The division
may suspend domestic livestock grazing authorized under any grazing permit
before expiration of the grazing permit's grazing period if the division
determines the desired degree of utilization on the key forage species has been
achieved.
(5) Compensation received
by the division for grazing permits may be in-kind compensation or monetary, or
a combination of both, as specified by the division.
(a) The permittee is obligated to satisfy its
compensation obligations regardless of whether the permittee uses the grazing
permit or whether the provisions of the grazing permit have been changed by the
division.
(b) The division may
require compensation to be paid before livestock being placed on division land
each year.
(6) The
division may terminate a grazing permit for non-compliance or for failure to
abide by any terms and conditions in a signed permit.
(a) The division may unilaterally terminate a
grazing permit at any time if the permittee has managed the permittee's
livestock in a manner that breaches the provisions of the grazing permit.b
Additionally, if the livestock management of a permittee is sufficiently
egregious as to defeat the vegetation management goals of a grazing permit,
that livestock operator may be disqualified from applying in the future for
grazing permits on division lands.
(b) The division shall notify in writing any
livestock operator disqualified from obtaining grazing permits in the
future.
(c) The division shall
determine the degree to which a permittee has complied with the provisions of
the grazing permit, and shall report to the permittee whether compliance was
unsatisfactory.
(d) A permittee who
is out of compliance with the division may have their permit
terminated.
(7) Grazing
permit duration and renewals:
(a) Grazing
permits shall be issued for a term no greater than one year.
(b) Permittees in good standing with the
division may have the option to renew the grazing permit for the coming year
provided the division determines continued livestock grazing is necessary to
maintain or improve wildlife habitat.
(c) A permittee may hold a grazing permit for
a maximum period of ten years through the exercising of an option to renew at
which point a new solicitation may be issued if the division determines
continued livestock grazing is necessary to maintain or improve wildlife
habitat.
(d) The division may issue
grazing permits without options to renew, or with options to renew for a
shorter aggregate term.
(8) The division may amend or alter the
provisions of the grazing permit contract.
(9) Grazing permits are non-transferable
without the prior written consent of the division.
(10) Issuance of grazing permits does not
convey or grant any property right of division lands to the
permittees.
(11) Trailing and
staging livestock across or on division lands:
(a) Unless a party has a recorded
right-of-way to trail livestock across division lands, prior written approval
must be obtained from the division for trailing livestock across division
lands.
(b) The authorization to
trail livestock across division lands shall restrict and limit the route, the
number and type of animals, and the time and duration, not to exceed two
consecutive days.
(c) Staging of
livestock on division lands is prohibited without the prior written consent of
the division.
(12) The
division may designate specific properties or portions of a property as a
grassbank.
