Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/boundvolumes/529bv.pdf
Page Number: 810

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Unit: $U57

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

735

Opinion of the Court

Ibid. And they gave a third preference
lacking prior use.
like the nomadic
to stock owners without base property,
sheep herder.
Ibid. Since lower preference categories di-
vided capacity left over after satisfaction of all higher prefer-
ence claims, this system, in effect, awarded grazing privi-
leges to owners of land or water. See Foss, supra, at 63
(quoting Grazing Division Director F. R. Carpenter’s re-
marks that grazing privileges are given to ranchers “not as
individuals, nor as owners of livestock,” but to “build up [the]
lands and give them stability and value”).

As grazing allocations were determined, the Department
would issue a permit measuring grazing privileges in terms
of “animal unit months” (AUMs), i. e., the right to obtain
the forage needed to sustain one cow (or ﬁve sheep) for one
month. Permits were valid for up to 10 years and usually
renewed, as suggested by the Act. See 43 U. S. C. § 315b;
Public Land Law Review Commission, One Third of the Na-
tion’s Land 109 (1970). But the conditions placed on permits
reﬂected the leasehold nature of grazing privileges, consist-
ent with the fact that Congress had made the Secretary the
landlord of the public range and basically made the grant of
grazing privileges discretionary. The grazing regulations
in effect from 1938 to the present day made clear that the
Department retained the power to modify, fail to renew, or
cancel a permit or lease for various reasons.

First, the Secretary could cancel permits if, for example,
the permit holder persistently overgrazed the public lands,
lost control of the base property, failed to use the permit, or
failed to comply with the Range Code. See, e. g., 43 CFR
(1938); Department of Interior, Federal
§§ 160.26(a)–(f)
Range Code §§ 6(c)(6),
(hereinafter 1942
(1942)
Range Code); 43 CFR §§ 161.6(c)(6)–(7), (10)–(12) (1955); 43
CFR §§ 4115.2–1(d), (e)(7)–(11) (1964); 43 CFR §§ 4115.2–
1(d) (e)(7)–(11) (1977); 43 CFR § 4170.1–2 (1994); 43 CFR
§ 4170.1–2 (1998). Second, the Secretary, consistent ﬁrst

(10)

(7),