State grazing program losing money

BOISE – A grazing program administered by the Idaho Department of Lands and intended to help pay for state public schools lost money in 2005, the second straight year of deficits.

The grazing program lost $159,591 on revenues of $1.7 million in 2005. It lost $185,600 on revenues of $1.8 million in 2004, according to Department of Lands records.

The state agency manages 2.4 million acres of endowment land. The bulk of that land – 1.8 million acres – is leased to ranchers as grazing grounds.

Money from the grazing program is shifted to Idaho schools. The state constitution declares that the program must ensure “maximum long-term financial return.”

But state economists have long called the 1.8 million acres of grazing land a misused asset. Now, the two-year losses have prompted the Lands Department to reassess all of its parcels with an eye toward keeping profitable grazing land and selling off underperforming tracts.

“The idea is to focus on an aggressive but carefully designed program of pruning the underperforming elements,” said Winston Wiggins, the agency’s director.

Even before the losses, revenues from the program have pitted anti-grazing activists against the ranchers who rely on state lands to feed their cattle.

Jon Marvel, an outspoken opponent of grazing on public lands, and Mike Webster, president of the Idaho Cattle Association, will address the state Land Board at a monthly meeting on Tuesday.

The Land Board controls the 2.4 million acres of state endowment land. Currently Gov. Jim Risch, Secretary of State Ben Ysursa, Attorney General Lawrence Wasden, Superintendent of Public Instruction Marilyn Howard and State Controller Keith Johnson fill its five seats.

Marvel has long argued that the grazing program is grossly mismanaged and that the state is underselling the land.

Idaho charges a monthly grazing fee of $6.03 per cow and calf, compared to private grazing land owners who charge as much as $15. The state fee has declined more than 80 percent over the last three decades, when adjusted for inflation, Marvel said.

“The Land Board is failing to meet its fiduciary responsibility,” Marvel said.

Ranchers continue to depend on public land, both state and federal, because there is not enough private grazing land in Idaho.

Administrative projects, a court-ordered cattle guard requirement and the high cost of fighting lawsuits filed by Marvel’s group, Western Watersheds Project, are to blame for the shortfall, Webster said.

“Just the red tape the department is going through is bleeding us dry,” he said.

A hike in the grazing fee, especially now that energy costs are soaring, would bankrupt ranchers, Webster said. If ranchers cannot afford to graze their cattle, they will be forced to sell off their base property to developers. The result will be fewer open spaces and more subdivisions.

“They’ll sell those off and then they’ll be condos,” Webster said.

Wiggins, Lands director, said the program will adjust to meet its constitutional responsibility of profitability. But, he said, grazing will always hold a place in the state land portfolio.