A lawsuit filed today by the American Farm Bureau Federation and 11 other groups challenges the lawfulness of the Bureau of Land Management’s Public Lands Rule, which threatens the future of ranching in the U.S. by destabilizing a decades-old tradition of grazing on federal lands.
Gary Heibertshausen, a sheep rancher in Montana and Farm Bureau member, says access to public lands for livestock grazing is crucial to the success of his ranch. “If Willow Creek Partners could not graze its livestock on federal land, we would be forced to sell our sheep and cease operating as a ranch.”