Judge Refuses To Block Permit,
Thwarting Anti-Grazing Gadfly

TWIN FALLS, Idaho — Anti-grazing zealot Jon Marvel, riding a string of victories in his campaign to wrest control of rangeland from ranchers, has finally suffered a setback in his bid to block a federal grazing permit transfer.

An administrative law judge with the Interior Department's Board of Land Appeals has refused to block the transfer of nine allotments over tens of thousands of acres of public range as part of the sale of the Gerald Tews cattle ranch to the J.R. Simplot livestock operation.

James Terry rejected Marvel's claim that there would be irreparable damage done to the range if the transfer were allowed before his official protest of the transaction is settled by the Board of Land Appeals. That could take three to five years.

Marvel claimed the Bureau of Land Management failed to adequately assess the environmental impact of continuing to graze the range in the Jarbidge Resource area of eastern Owyhee and western Twin Falls counties, allowing degradation of the land.

But Terry found that new conditions imposed on the grazing permits upon transfer would actually provide greater protection for the range.

Marvel belittled Terry's decision, issued earlier this month, while Tews complained again that all the Hailey architect has done ``is harass us.''

The Bureau of Land Management has argued that it followed the law to begin with and that the Simplot operation will be held to more stringent environmental standards on the allotments.

Already imposed on the permits are changes in the season of use, the level of use on plants, rotation, herding and fencing. And bureau officials said additional requirements could be imposed, depending on the results of a new round of assessments.

So far this year, Marvel has convinced a federal judge that other federal grazing leases in southwestern Idaho had not undergone adequate environmental analysis. He has seen the state Supreme Court side with him in two instances — voiding a constitutional amendment approved by voters last year that could have shut grazing leases off from competitive bidding and requiring that he be allowed to bid on any state grazing lease he wants.

Recently, Marvel outbid a millionaire for his lease under that ruling. But the Land Board could still disqualify him in its post-auction review of the lease's validity.

A determination of the extent of the Land Board's authority to ignore high-bidders after the auction is over is pending before the district court in south-central Idaho.