Judge Wants Arizona
Land Lease Bidding

PHOENIX —(AP)— Arizona must allow more competition for grazing leases on state lands by Sept. 1, a judge ordered last Friday.

The order from Maricopa County Superior Court Judge B. Michael Dann will be put on hold, however, in the likely event that ranchers or the state Land Department appeal the case.

Dann's order is meant to enforce his ruling last July that struck down the state Land Department's tradition of letting ranchers indefinitely renew their grazing leases. That practice made it nearly impossible for the Land Department to do its job of providing the maximum revenue from state lands to fund Arizona's schools, Dann claimed.

But ranchers and their allies in the Arizona Legislature have complained that allowing more competitive bidding could drive some cattlemen out of business. The ruling's critics also say the Land Department might end up spending more money running a competitive bidding process than the less than $3 million it gets from the leases each year.

"There's no point in spending $2 million to make $2 million," said Phoenix cattle rancher Steve Brophy. "They don't see how to administer it in any kind of economical manner."

Dann on Friday gave lawmakers and the Land Department until Sept. 1 to come up with any new laws or regulations needed to allow competitive bidding for grazing leases, which typically last 10 years or less. He also said the Land Department had the authority to charge leaseholders a portion of any money they receive from sub-leases of the land.

Dann was skeptical of the Land Department's arguments that several state laws must be changed to allow more competition for grazing leases.

"The problem is more one of administration than in the statutory language," Dann said.

Any changes in the way the state awards grazing leases are months, if not more than a year, away, said Tim Hogan, the lawyer who sued on behalf of anti-grazing activists. He said he did not expect lawmakers to address the issue this year.

"We've got to go through the appeal," said Hogan, who sued the state Land Department on behalf of the Arizona Center for law in the Public Interest. "There's no way they (state officials) were going to change the world before it went through the appeals process."