Kraayenbrink

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is the federal agency charged with overseeing livestock grazing on over 160 million acres of public land in the western United States. Pursuant to the BLM’s authority under the Taylor Grazing Act of 1934, 43 U.S.C. § 315 et seq., the BLM has adopted regulations that implement its grazing management responsibilities. See 43 C.F.R. § 4100 et seq.

On July 12, 2006, the Secretary of the Interior proposed eighteen amendments to the BLM’s grazing regulations (collectively the 2006 Regulations). See 71 Fed.Reg. 39,402. The stated purpose of the proposed amendments was to improve the working relationships with permittees and lessees (i.e. ranchers), to protect the health of rangelands, and to increase the administrative efficiency and effectiveness of the BLM grazing management program. See id. at 39,402, 39,403 ; see also Proposed Revisions to Grazing Regulations for the Public Lands, Final Impact Statement (Final EIS) at ES-5, 4-38. Among other changes, the proposed amendments decreased public involvement in public lands management, put new limitations on the BLM’s enforcement powers, and increased ranchers’ ownership rights to improvements…