Ranchers Lose Round in Appeal of Grazing Limits

(CN) - The 10th Circuit upheld a ruling against a group of Wyoming ranchers who sued the government for limiting their ability to graze cattle in the southwestern part of the state.

A three-judge panel of the Denver-based federal appeals court held that Smithfork Grazing Association, an association of ranchers who hold federal grazing permits for land in southwestern Wyoming, did not have the right to challenge the Bureau of Land Management's decision to restrict grazing.

Smithfork had grazing permits for a 90,937-acre parcel near Cokeville, Wyo. Concerned about overgrazing, the BLM placed restrictions on the allotment in 2001 and again in 2005.

Smithfork appealed to the Department of Interior's Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA). The OHA denied the stay petition after determining that "the appellants had failed to meet their burden of showing both sufficient justification for the stay based on the relative harm to the parties and the likelihood of immediate and irreparable harm absent a stay."

The 10th Circuit upheld the decision.

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