I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3337

To give livestock operators holding a grazing permit or lease on Federal 

lands in the State of Arizona the opportunity to relinquish their grazing 

permit or lease in exchange for compensation, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 17, 2003

Mr. GRIJALVA (for himself, Mr. SHAYS, Mr. MARSHALL, Mr. HASTINGS of 

Florida, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. 

BLUMENAUER, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, and Mr. 

HOLT) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Armed Services, for 

a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 

consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL

To give livestock operators holding a grazing permit or lease 

on Federal lands in the State of Arizona the opportunity 

to relinquish their grazing permit or lease in exchange 

for compensation, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Arizona Voluntary 

5 Grazing Permit Buyout Act of 2003’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 The Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) The grazing of livestock on Federal lands in 

4 Arizona is an increasingly difficult undertaking for 

5 grazing permittees and lessees due to growing con6 flicts with other legitimate uses of the same lands, 

7 such as environmental protection and burgeoning 

8 recreational use. 

9 (2) Sustained drought in the arid Southwest, 

10 foreign competition, changing domestic markets, in11 dustry restructuring, and individual ranch situations 

12 have combined to result in grazing permits and 

13 leases becoming stranded investments for many 

14 grazing permittees and lessees in Arizona. 

15 (3) Attempts to resolve grazing conflicts with 

16 other multiple uses of Federal lands often require 

17 extensive range developments and monitoring that 

18 greatly increase costs to both grazing permittees and 

19 lessees and taxpayers, far out of proportion to the 

20 benefit received. 

21 (4) Certain grazing allotments on Federal lands 

22 in Arizona have, or are likely to become, unsuitable 

23 for livestock production as a result of the combined 

24 effect of the aforementioned factors. 
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1 (5) The cost of the Federal grazing program in 

2 Arizona greatly exceeds revenues to the Federal 

3 treasury from grazing fee receipts. 

4 (6) Many grazing permittees and lessees in Ari5 zona have indicated their willingness to end livestock 

6 grazing on their Federal grazing allotments in ex7 change for a one-time payment to reasonably com8 pensate them for the effort and investment that they 

9 have made in such allotments. 

10 (7) A broad coalition of ranchers and environ11 mental and conservation groups in Arizona have 

12 agreed that a voluntary program to buyout grazing 

13 permits and leases would provide the best solution to 

14 the aforementioned problems. 

15 (8) Compensating grazing permittees and les16 sees to end livestock grazing on Federal lands would 

17 help recapitalize an ailing sector of rural Arizona by 

18 providing economic options to grazing permittees 

19 and lessees that do not presently exist, thus allowing 

20 them to restructure their grazing operations or start 

21 new businesses. 

22 (9) Reasonable compensation will help alleviate 

23 the need for grazing permittees and lessees to sell or 

24 subdivide their private lands. 
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1 (10) A voluntary buyout program in Arizona 

2 would resolve growing conflicts between livestock 

3 grazing and other multiple uses in Arizona, and 

4 would also be fiscally prudent and socially just. 

5 (11) The operation of a voluntary buyout pro6 gram in Arizona would provide Congress with crit7 ical information concerning the possible expansion of 

8 such a program nation-wide. 

9 SEC. 3. ARIZONA VOLUNTARY GRAZING PERMIT AND LEASE 

10 BUYOUT PROGRAM. 

11 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

12 (1) The term ‘‘Secretary concerned’’ means the 

13 Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of the Inte14 rior, the Secretary of Energy, or the Secretary of 

15 Defense, as appropriate, who has administrative ju16 risdiction over the Federal lands and the grazing 

17 permit or lease at issue. 

18 (2) The terms ‘‘grazing permit or lease’’ and 

19 ‘‘grazing permit and lease’’ mean any document au20 thorizing the use, for a term of at least five years, 

21 of Federal lands in Arizona for the purpose of graz22 ing domestic livestock. 

23 (3) The terms ‘‘permittee or lessee’’ and ‘‘per24 mittees and lessees’’ refer to a livestock operator 
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1 who holds, or livestock operators who hold, a valid 

2 term grazing permit or lease. 

3 (4) The term ‘‘grazing allotment’’ means a des4 ignated portion of Federal land upon which domestic 

5 livestock are permitted to graze by a term grazing 

6 permit or lease. 

7 (5) The term ‘‘animal unit month’’ means the 

8 amount of forage needed to sustain one animal unit 

9 for one month. Animal unit is defined by the Sec10 retary concerned issuing the permit or lease. 

11 (6) The term ‘‘range developments’’ means 

12 structures, fences and other permanent fixtures 

13 placed on Federal lands for the furtherance of the 

14 purpose of grazing domestic livestock, and specifi15 cally not including rolling stock, livestock and diver16 sions of water from Federal lands onto non-Federal 

17 lands. 

18 (b) WAIVER OF EXISTING GRAZING PERMIT OR

19 LEASE.—A permittee or lessee may at any time waive to 

20 the Secretary concerned a valid existing grazing permit 

21 or lease authorizing livestock grazing on Federal land in 

22 Arizona. 

23 (c) CANCELLATION OF WAIVED GRAZING PERMIT OR

24 LEASE.—The Secretary concerned shall cancel grazing 

25 permits or leases waived under subsection (b) and perma-
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1 nently retire the associated grazing allotments from do2 mestic livestock grazing use, notwithstanding any other 

3 provision of law. 

4 (d) COMPENSATION.—A permittee or lessee who 

5 waives a permit or lease to the Secretary concerned under 

6 subsection (b) shall be compensated at $175 per animal 

7 unit month based on the average over the last 10 years 

8 of the numbers of animal unit months permitted to the 

9 permittee or lessee or the predecessors of the permittee 

10 or lessee, not including suspended animal unit months. In 

11 the case of an ephemeral grazing permit or lease, the per12 mittee or lessee shall be compensated for the average over 

13 the last 10 years of the actual animal unit months of graz14 ing use. If a permittee or lessee is in arrears of Federal 

15 grazing fees, the amount of fees in arrears shall be de16 ducted from the amount of compensation otherwise due 

17 the permittee or lessee under this subsection. 

18 (e) EFFECT OF WAIVER ON RANGE DEVELOP19 MENTS.—A permittee or lessee that waives a permit or 

20 lease to the Secretary concerned under subsection (b) and 

21 receives compensation under subsection (d) shall be 

22 deemed to have waived any claim to all range develop23 ments on the subject grazing allotment or allotments, not24 withstanding any other provision of law. 
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1 (f) RELATION TO OTHER AUTHORITY.—Nothing in 

2 this section shall be construed to affect the authority of 

3 the Secretary concerned to otherwise modify or terminate 

4 grazing permits or leases without compensation. Nothing 

5 in this section shall be construed to create a property right 

6 in any grazing permit or lease on Federal lands. 

7 (g) RETIREMENT OF CERTAIN LAND.—The Sec8 retary concerned shall not issue grazing permits or leases 

9 for grazing allotments for which no valid current grazing 

10 permit or lease exists as of the date of the enactment of 

11 this Act and shall retire such grazing allotments from live12 stock use as provided in subsection (c). 

13 (h) EFFECT OF NONUSE OR REDUCED USE.—Not14 withstanding any other provision of law, a permittee or 

15 lessee may opt not to graze a grazing allotment or to graze 

16 the grazing allotment at less than the minimum permitted 

17 level and still retain the grazing permit or lease for the 

18 remainder of its term. The Secretary concerned shall not 

19 take into consideration such non-use or reduced use of a 

20 grazing allotment when considering a request for the re21 newal of the grazing permit or lease. 

22 (i) RELATION TO EMINENT DOMAIN.—Nothing in 

23 this section shall be construed to authorize the use of emi24 nent domain for the purpose of acquiring a grazing permit 

25 or lease. 
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1 (j) RELATION TO OTHER VALID EXISTING

2 RIGHTS.—Nothing in this section shall affect the alloca3 tion, ownership, interest, or control, in existence as of the 

4 date of the enactment of this Act, of any water, water 

5 right, or any other valid existing right held by the United 

6 States, an Indian tribe, State or local government, or pri7 vate individual, partnership, or corporation.

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