Federal grazing permits and subsidies benefit the wealthiest ranchers : NPR

JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:

From the Colorado Rockies to the redwood forests of California, there are millions of acres of land – forests, prairies, deserts and tundra – managed by the government. Much of these public lands fall under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service. It is also a large expanse of territory that ranchers use for livestock grazing. In a recent investigation, journalists found that the wealthiest ranchers profit the most from these public lands, and they write that taxpayers are footing the bill. We’re joined now by investigative reporter Jimmy Tobias, one of the reporters who broke the story for High Country News. To welcome.

JIMMY TOBIAS: Thanks for inviting me.

SUMMERS: Jimmy, I just want to start by asking you briefly about the story. How did the system of government permits for grazing on public lands come about?

TOBIAS: Yeah. It was born out of the New Deal era, actually, as those Great Depression-era dust storms were sort of rolling over the Great Plains. Franklin Roosevelt and his administration signed into law the Taylor Grazing Act which sort of erected this system of grazing on public lands in which ranchers are given 10-year permits to access these vast landscapes of the West at a very low cost.

SUMMERS: So grazing on public land is much cheaper than on private land. You say in your article that it’s about 90% cheaper. Why hasn’t the government increased prices?

TOBIAS: That’s a great question. Yeah. Essentially, ranchers pay about $1.35 to feed a cow and calf on public land for a month. This low figure has barely changed in decades. So, industry-wide, the $21 million collected from ranchers by the BLM and Forest Service last year was about $284 million below the market rate for pasture forage last year. And, you know, there have sometimes been efforts to increase grazing fees, but there’s often political resistance, and so it’s endured. And in reality, this program is a very significant subsidy for ranchers on public lands.

SUMMERS: In your article, you cite high-profile billionaire ranchers – people like Murdoch, Rockefeller – well-known names that we all know. How do they benefit from the system?

TOBIAS: Yeah. Well, you know, the program was sort of built around the New Deal era to support, I think, in general, small ranchers. But these days, many of the biggest breeders are corporations, agribusinesses, or billionaires like the ones you mentioned. And they benefit because in addition to the very low cost of grazing, you know, there are also all these subsidy programs – things like drought and disaster assistance, funds for pasture improvement, reimbursements if their livestock are preyed upon by wolves or cougars. And we calculated that in 2024, the federal government has invested at least $2.5 billion in grant programs that public land ranchers can access. And in many parts of the country, you know, it also leads to significant environmental degradation.

SUMMERS: So I know you reached out to breeders, big and small, during your reporting. What have you heard from them?

TOBIAS: Yeah. We heard a lot of things. I mean, one of the things we’ve heard is that it’s often very expensive and difficult to implement the best environmental protection measures because of the economic pressures they face. We also heard that, you know, many of the small breeders would probably go out of business if they weren’t able to access some of these subsidies. You know, we’ve also heard questions about whether some of these wealthier ranchers should be subsidized.

SUMMERS: You write that the Trump administration is considering making this livestock permit system more generous – opening up even more acreage. And I know you reached out to the Trump administration in your reporting. What did they have to say about this system?

TOBIAS: You know, they didn’t really provide a lot of substantive feedback. But again, we were able to access public records and look at the political appointees who are sort of shaping policy. You know, one of the most influential political figures in the Department of the Interior, which oversees a lot of this grazing on public lands, is herself a very prominent rancher and advocate with ranching groups. And they spent a lot of time – you know, the administration spent a lot of time that first year rolling back conservation rules that the public lands livestock industry opposed.

SUMMERS: Jimmy, based on your reporting, where do you see the system going?

TOBIAS: Most likely, it’s going to remain sort of at an impasse, as it is. But I think it’s important for the public to understand, you know, the face of the system today, that, you know, it disproportionately benefits some of these very large or wealthy ranchers, and it causes significant environmental degradation in many parts of the West. These are issues that I think taxpayers should be aware of because, you know, they’re the ones who ultimately have to pay for this program.

SUMMERS: Jimmy Tobias is an investigative reporter and co-author of a new story for High Country News and ProPublica. It’s called “Rich profits from public lands, and the taxpayers foot the bill.” Thank you very much, Jimmy.

TOBIAS: Thank you.

Copyright © 2025 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit the terms of use and permissions pages on our website at www.npr.org for more information.

The accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. The text of the transcript may be edited to correct errors or match updates to the audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio recording.