Military, Rancher Reach Pact
On Lost Grazing Compensation

TWIN FALLS, Idaho —(AP)— The U.S. Air Force and Three Creek rancher Bert Brackett have signed a compensation agreement worth nearly $1 million for public grazing permits lost to a proposed jet training range.

The Air Force will pay Brackett $650,000 cash, and $325,000 for additional federal and state grazing leases to be transferred to him to replace lost grazing permits.

But Brackett may get to run livestock on some of that lost grazing land anyway, according to a copy of the agreement. The agreement ends a long-running negotiation over compensation for lost grazing leases, an issue that drew close scrutiny from the U.S. Senate and criticism from environmental activists.

Brackett declined comment on the compensation agreement. He has said he wants lost grazing land replaced, not cash.

Legislation that authorized the Air Force to negotiate a deal with Brackett was inserted by Sen. Dirk Kempthorne into the 1999 Defense Authorization bill, which Congress passed last week. It awaits the president's signature.

Kempthorne's legislation sets aside 12,000 acres of public land for a range that would be part of a larger Air Force training complex in Owyhee County.

The range on Juniper Butte would affect about 1252 livestock grazing units and would disrupt Brackett's ranching operation, Kempthorne has maintained.

The grazing units equal the amount of forage a cow and a calf eat in one month.

The Air Force agreed to pay rancher Frank Bachman of Bruneau $325,000 to transfer to Brackett leases on 780 grazing units, mostly on federal land.

"We really hated to give it up," Bachman said. "We negotiated what it was worth to us to give it up."

The area has been improved and provides more grazing than the 780 units listed, Bachman said, and it allows temporary grazing granted annually by the Bureau of Land Management.

"It's more like 2,000," said Bachman, who must arrange for the grazing permits to be transferred.

Under the agreement he signed, Brackett will be required to move fences and water lines. And he consented to building a one-acre reservoir and make available 50,000 gallons of water to the Air Force for firefighting on the range.

In addition to the cash compensation, Brackett would be allowed to graze his livestock on part of the range if the Air Force decides to lease out grazing land.