Editor’s note: This is a synopsis of the Tribune’s new reporting on the Bureau of Land Management allowing ranchers to live rent free in Bears Ears National Monument. Read the complete story here.
An outspoken critic of the Bears Ears monument designation, Utah ranchers Sandy and Gail Johnson have lived on public land inside the monument without paying rent since the late 1970s.
The generous arrangement is made possible by provisions in the 1935 Taylor Grazing Act that allow stockmen operating on federal land to construct and use “range improvements,” such as fences and ponds.
[Related: Utah rancher enjoys free home on the range, courtesy of U.S. taxpayers]
While the Johnsons say their occupancy on about 27 acres of public land in Fry Canyon is perfectly legal, critics say the deal stretches the limits of the law and shows how the Bureau of Land Management fails to oversee livestock operations adequately.
According to Gail Johnson, her family’s 261,000-acre ranch is so far from any towns that it is necessary to live on publicly owned land, which has since become part of Bears Ears National Monument under a proclamation signed by President Joe Biden last year.
“We have to live here to take care of the cows. You can’t do that when you are running back and forth from town. Hauling water there is a full-time job. A lot of our ranch is an hour or more from Fry Canyon,” she said. “We are good people. We aren’t living here rent-free illegally.”
But critics like Jonathan Ratner of the Western Watersheds Project contend a permanent year-round home exceeds the scope of what qualifies as a range improvement and should never have been allowed on public land.
The big picture: The BLM administers 1,410 grazing allotments on 22 million acres of public land in Utah, including several inside Bears Ears National Monument. Ranchers are charged $1.35 per month per cow for the use of the public domain. The animal-unit month, or AUM, is the standard measure of forage in the ranching business, representing the amount eaten by a cow-calf pair in one month.
The Johnsons’ allotment is authorized for about 5,400 AUMs, enabling them to run 456 cattle on their ranch. Their annual federal fee is about $7,300. Johnson points to that fee to support her claim that the family indeed pays “rent” for the land they live on.
Their ranch headquarters in Fry Canyon has been the site of cow camp dating back to the 1880s, according to Johnson. BLM records show the first home was placed there in 1961 by the rancher who held the allotment before the Johnsons. Since then, larger homes have been brought in, including a double-wide trailer currently mounted on a foundation. The cow camp has evolved into a compound with fenced pens and corrals, a pasture, numerous outbuildings, tanks and water lines.
Why it matters: Public land ranchers are obligated to own or lease private land, known as a “base property,” inside or near their permitted allotments. This property is expected to support the rancher’s herd for two months.
The Johnsons’ base property is 277 acres they own in highlands about 9 miles east of their Fry Canyon home. This spot lacks water and is not accessible year round, rendering it inadequate to use as the ranch headquarters. The BLM’s evaluation of the property says it falls short of what the law requires in the number of cattle it can support.
The BLM and the U.S. Forest Service are now crafting a management plan for Bears Ears in coordination with five Indian tribes that have cultural and spiritual ties to this landscape. The Johnsons’ compound is expected to be scrutinized during that planning process.
Follow @brianmaffly