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[09-26-01 12:19:03] PAGES PGT: OPIN

Cite as: 529 U. S. 728 (2000)

731

Opinion of the Court

Justice Breyer delivered the opinion of the Court.
This case requires us to interpret several provisions of
the 1934 Taylor Grazing Act, 48 Stat. 1269, 43 U. S. C. § 315
et seq. The petitioners claim that each of three grazing reg-
ulations, 43 CFR §§ 4100.0–5, 4110.1(a), and 4120.3–2 (1998),
exceeds the authority that this statute grants the Secretary
of the Interior. We disagree and hold that the three reg-
ulations do not violate the Act.

I

We begin with a brief description of the Act’s background,

provisions, and related administrative practice.

A

The Taylor Grazing Act’s enactment in 1934 marked a
turning point in the history of the western rangelands,
the vast, dry grasslands and desert that stretch from west-
ern Nebraska, Kansas, and Texas to the Sierra Nevada.
Ranchers once freely grazed livestock on the publicly owned
range as their herds moved from place to place, searching
for grass and water. But the population growth that fol-
lowed the Civil War eventually doomed that unregulated
economic freedom.

A new era began in 1867 with the ﬁrst successful long
drive of cattle north from Texas. Cowboys began regularly
driving large herds of grazing cattle each year through thou-
sands of miles of federal lands to railheads like Abilene, Kan-
sas. From there or other towns along the rail line, trains
carried live cattle to newly opened eastern markets. The
long drives initially brought high proﬁts, which attracted
more ranchers and more cattle to the land once home only to
Indeed, an early-1880’s boom in
Indian tribes and buffalo.
the cattle market saw the number of cattle grazing the Great
Plains grow well beyond 7 million. See R. White, “It’s Your
Misfortune and None of My Own”: A History of the Ameri-
can West 223 (1991); see generally E. Osgood, The Day of the