Permit Values of Federal Grazing in the West

E. Bruce Godfrey, Utah State University
Darwin B. Nielsen, Utah State University
Denny Lytle, Utah State University

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Grazing permits are the authorization to graze livestock on federally administered 1 and. In the early 1900s, grazing permits were first observed to have value to the rancher over and above the grazing fee charges by the government. Ranchers were willing to pay the fee plus an additional amount to gain access to the permit. It was reported that during this period the privilege to graze federal land became so valuable that it figured in sales contracts for lands adjacent to the forest whose owners held grazing permits. The control of grazing privileges on federal land has been valued by ranchers as a capital asset for over seventy years.