Wyoming Rancher Fights To Keep Grazing Access Alive

A Wyoming rancher took his message to Capitol Hill this week, urging lawmakers to protect grazing access on federal lands that he says are critical to keeping Western ranching operations alive.

U.S. Sen. John Barrasso, who chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee’s Public Lands, Forests, and Mining Subcommittee, welcomed Newcastle rancher Ty Checketts to testify at a hearing focused on federal grazing policy.

Checketts, president of the Association of National Grasslands, spoke in support of Barrasso’s proposed Grasslands Grazing Act. The bill would ensure ranchers with permits on National Grasslands are treated the same as those grazing on other federal lands, including National Forests and Bureau of Land Management allotments.

Barrasso introduced Checketts to the committee, highlighting his deep ties to Wyoming’s ranching industry.

“Ty ranches on his family operation where they run 1,000 head of Black Angus on about 65,000 acres of both public and private land,” Barrasso said. He also noted Checketts’ involvement with the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, the Public Lands Council and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.

At the heart of the discussion is grazing access on places like the Thunder Basin National Grassland, which spans more than 500,000 acres in northeast Wyoming.

“In Wyoming, cattle graze on the Thunder Basin National Grassland,” Barrasso said. “Ranchers across the West depend on access to grazing on our National Grasslands. They deserve to have certainty that their grazing permits will be approved in a timely manner.”

Barrasso said his bill would bring regulatory clarity from the U.S. Forest Service and provide the stability ranching families need to keep their operations running.

In his testimony, Checketts emphasized that many ranchers in Wyoming and across the West rely on a combination of private and federally managed land to sustain their herds.

“Without the ability to graze on National Grasslands, there would not be enough forage for my livestock, nor enough private land to access additional forage, to be able to ranch in Wyoming,” Checketts told lawmakers. He added that in many Western and Midwestern states, federal land ownership makes integrated grazing allotments essential for cattle and sheep production at scale.

Checketts said grazing access needs to be predictable and consistent — something he argued has not always been the case under current policies stemming from the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act of 1937.

The Grasslands Grazing Act, also known as S. 2787, would provide stable 10-year grazing agreements and extend due process rights to National Grasslands permittees similar to those already in place for Bureau of Land Management and National Forest permit holders.

“The proposed legislation simply seeks to give National Grasslands permittees the same due process rights that the Bureau of Land Management and National Forest permittees currently enjoy,” Checketts said, urging the committee to advance the bill.

The legislation now awaits further consideration in the Senate.