Sponsor
Harriet Hageman
Representative · R-WY
Representative · R-WY
The bill clarifies grazing-permit rule applicability and preserves existing grasslands protections—giving ranchers and rural communities legal certainty—at the cost of some short-term uncertainty for a subset of permit holders and modest administrative burdens for federal agencies.
Ranchers and permittees on National Forest System lands gain clearer, more predictable rules about when grazing-permit term provisions apply to their permits and leases, reducing legal ambiguity for grazing operations.
Farmers, ranchers, and rural communities retain existing legal protections for national grasslands and related programs because the bill explicitly preserves the applicability of other FLPMA provisions and Bankhead-Jones and PRIA section 11, avoiding unintended program disruptions.
Some permit holders (ranchers and grazing operators) may face short-term regulatory adjustments or uncertainty if agencies reinterpret how grazing-term provisions apply, potentially disrupting operations or planning.
USDA and Department of the Interior will likely incur administrative costs and workload to update guidance, agreements, and compliance processes to reflect the clarified statutory scope.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Clarifies that grazing-permit term provisions apply to permits and leases on National Forest System lands by updating statutory language.
Official title: To amend the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 to ensure that ranchers who have grazing agreements on national grasslands are treated the same as permittees on other Federal land.
Introduced November 25, 2025 by Harriet Hageman · Last progress November 25, 2025
Amends federal grazing-permit language so the permit-term provisions that previously referenced “lands within National Forests” explicitly apply to the National Forest System as defined in the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act. The change is intended to make clear that grazing permits and leases issued for National Forest System lands fall under the existing grazing-permit term rules. The bill does not change the applicability of other Federal Land Policy and Management Act provisions to national grasslands and states it does not affect several related statutes (Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act title III and the Public Rangelands Improvement Act section noted). It is a narrowly targeted statutory clarification rather than a new program or funding authorization.