WASHINGTON (February 12, 2026) – Today, Association of National Grasslands President, Public Lands Council (PLC) Board Member, and Wyoming rancher, Ty Checketts, testified in Senate Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forestry and Mining, in support of S.2787 the Grasslands Grazing Act of 2025. The Senate bill was introduced by Sen. Barrasso (R-WY) and the House companion bill of the same name, H.R. 6300, was introduced by Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-WY).
“The Grasslands Grazing Act remedies a long-standing inequity among grazing permittees that currently limits the due process protections for ranching operations on national grasslands. This bill would simply extend legal tools that are available to other permittees to those ranchers who steward 4 million acres of national grasslands,” said Checketts. “Without these tools, it is harder to pass the ranching operation down to the next generation. Providing certainty for grasslands permittees helps to ensure producers can carry on the American tradition of ranching. Thank you to Senator Barrasso for championing this bill and we urge the Senate to pass this bill quickly.”
Background
The Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA) governs the process for grazing permits and agreements. FLPMA provides tools and protections to Forest Service and BLM permittees, but not National Grasslands permittees and associations. These rights include the ability to renew permits with a preference position, the ability to engage with the relevant agency in negotiating conditions and grazing levels, and clear expectations that a permit or agreements should only be cancelled with abundant notice. The modification sought by this legislation would create a more uniform, equitable and less confusing framework for the relationship between the Forest Service managers and permittees.
Posted: February 12, 2026