Vacant Federal Grazing Allotments in the West

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

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It has been surmised in recent years that there are a growing number of vacant grazing allotments on federally administered land. Increasing costs and decreasing returns have forced many livestock producers out of the business. Growing demands for recreational areas have resulted in an increased number of conflicts between ranchers and other users of public land. For these and a variety of other reasons, many allotments that were formerly grazed are now vacant. Thi s paper examines the acreage, number of AUMs, and some of the implications of vacant grazing allotments in the West.