Marvel-ous grazing respite - Idaho Architect Jon Marvel challenges grazing rights - In the News

Vegetarian Times, May, 1995 by Jack Rosenberger

Frustrated by the Destruction of public land by overgrazing, Idaho architect Jon Marvel decided to take matters into his own hands. In 1993, Marvel founded the Idaho Watersheds Project, an environmental group that bids against cattle and sheep ranchers at public auctions for the right to lease plots of state-owned land for 10-year periods. The idea is to give the land a break from grazing and allow it to flourish again. There's just one hitch: Most Idaho politicians and ranchers oppose Marvel's style of freemarket economics.

In 1890, Idaho mandated that 2.5 million acres of its state land be leased to anyone age 18 or older, with the proceeds going primarily to public schools. Since then, Idaho ranchers have enjoyed what Marvel characterizes as "a sweetheart deal," leasing state land for about 55 cents per acre per year. Ranchers have rarely challenged a fellow rancher's lease, thereby avoiding public auctions that drive up leasing rates.

In January 1994, the Idaho Watersheds Project offered a bid of $30 for the right to lease a 640-acre plot previously held by multimillionaire rancher Will Ingram. (People must bid for the right to win a lease; the actual annual cost of leasing the land is determined by the state.) This was the first time in Idaho history an environmental group bid against a rancher for state land; Ingram refused to counter Marvel's bid. Despite Ingram's inaction, however, Marvel failed to win rights to the land.

That's because all bids must be approved by the state's Land Board, which is composed of the five highest-ranking elected state officials. The board voted 4-1 to return the lease to Ingram, maintaining that it could consider more than auction results when awarding leases. What else did it consider? After the vote, then-Gov. Cecil Andrus, who cast the sole dissenting vote, wryly noted, "I'm the only one who's not on the ballot this year."

Idaho Department of Lands Chief of Range Management, Don Hobbs, told reporters, "In my 2S years with the department, this is the first time the Board didn't grant a lease to the highest bidder [at auction]." Marvel sued, but a district court upheld the decision, ruling that the Land Board possessed "broad discretionary powers." The case is now before the state Supreme Court.

The fate of the Watersheds Project's other bids is unknown. It has outbid ranchers for the rights to a total of 1,320 acres, but the Land Board has yet to approve the bids. The non-profit group, which is funded by private donations, hopes to acquire 40,000 acres of streamside land - that which has been most damaged by overgrazing-in the next 10 years. But the battle will be difficult.

Last year, the Idaho House of Representatives and Senate overwhelmingly passed a bill, drafted with the help of the livestock industry, that gave ranchers preference to state land leases, effectively shouldering Marvel aside. Before leaving office, Gov. Andrus vetoed the bill. A nearly identical piece of legislation was introduced last February, and if it passes, Gov. Philip E. Bratt is expected to sign it. If that happens, Marvel says he will fight the bill in the courts.