Ranchers win
again
Environmentalists in New
Mexico plan to follow a trend set in Idaho and Oregon: taking the
state to court after having bids for state grazing permits
rejected. They charge that the land office is discriminating
against them and violating state law by not managing state land for
maximum profit.
Forest Guardians and the
Southwest Environmental Center submitted bids for nine state
permits totaling over 4,000 acres. Members of the two groups say
the bids were aimed at protecting damaged riparian
areas.
After ranchers matched most of the
competing bids, the state stepped in and rejected eight of the
environmentalists’ offers on the ground that the applications were
for partial leases, breaking up whole leases. Kevin Bixby, whose
Southwest Environmental Center will file suit, sees that as an
excuse: “The problem was environmental groups got involved, and
they didn’t want (us) in the process.” With environmentalists
disqualified, the ranchers will only have to pay the amount they
did before the bidding struggle – an average of 60 cents per acre,
and less than half what environmentalists were willing to
pay.
Ed Moreno, a spokesman for the land office,
says while it looks as though ranchers are favored, the agency is
“favoring good, sustainable usage practices. We did look for
evidence of abuse, and it just wasn’t there.”
*Warren Cornwall
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Ranchers win again.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
