Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/boundvolumes/529bv.pdf
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529US3

Unit: $U57

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PUBLIC LANDS COUNCIL v. BABBITT

Opinion of the Court

Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA),
90 Stat. 2744, 43 U. S. C. § 1701 et seq., which instructed the
Interior Department to develop districtwide land use plans
based upon concepts of “multiple use” (use for various pur-
poses, such as recreation, range, timber, minerals, water-
shed, wildlife and ﬁsh, and natural and scenic, scientiﬁc, and
historical usage), § 1702(c), and “sustained yield” (regular re-
newable resource output maintained in perpetuity), § 1702(h).
The FLPMA strengthened the Department’s existing au-
thority to remove or add land from grazing use, allowing
such modiﬁcation pursuant to a land use plan, §§ 1712, 1714,
while specifying that existing grazing permit holders would
retain a “ﬁrst priority” for renewal so long as the land use
plan continued to make land “available for domestic livestock
grazing,” § 1752(c).

In 1978, the Department’s grazing regulations were, in
turn, substantially amended to comply with the new law.
See 43 Fed. Reg. 29067. As relevant here, the 1978 reg-
ulations tied permit renewal and validity to the land use
planning process, giving the Secretary the power to can-
cel, suspend, or modify grazing permits due to increases
or decreases in grazing forage or acreage made available
pursuant to land planning. See 43 CFR §§ 4110.3–2(b),
4110.4–2 (1978); see also 43 CFR § 4110.4–2 (1994); 43 CFR
§ 4110.4–2 (1998).

That same year Congress again increased grazing fees for
the period 1979 to 1986. See Public Rangelands Improve-
ment Act of 1978, 43 U. S. C. § 1905. However neither of the
two Acts from the 1970’s signiﬁcantly modiﬁed the particular
provisions of the Taylor Act at issue in this case.

E

This case arises out of a 1995 set of Interior Department
amendments to the federal grazing regulations. 60 Fed.
Reg. 9894 (1995) (Final Rule). The amendments represent
a stated effort to “accelerate restoration” of the rangeland,