January 19, 2001

Cattle producers have won a legal battle that challenged a radical environmental mission to end livestock grazing on federal lands, according to the Public Lands Council (PLC). New Mexico District Court Judge Edwin Mechem ruled earlier this week that the U.S. Forest Service erred when it agreed to give the Forest Guardians, an environmental group, access to federal lands ranchers' financial information.

"The ruling in our favor is a significant win for the livestock industry, especially ranchers who use public lands for grazing," said PLC president Paul Frischknecht, a cattle producer from Salt Lake City, UT. "It's another positive step in our continual fight to show livestock grazing is a viable and valuable use of federal lands."

PLC filed suit in August 1999 to intervene in the Forest Guardians v. U.S. Forest Service lawsuit. The Forest Guardians, a group that opposes federal lands ranching, sued the Forest Service to gain access to an array of private financial information regarding federal lands ranchers' grazing permits. The Forest Service attempted to settle the case by granting the Forest Guardians access to ranchers' escrow waivers -- forms used by the Forest Service that allow a bank to control a grazing permit should the bank foreclose on a rancher's loan. The Guardians claimed the Freedom of Information Act entitled the public to the information. Ranchers disagreed with the public disclosure of their personal finances and Judge Mechem agreed.

"Finally there is some vindication for the ranchers and acknowledgment that the Forest Service handled the settlement without regard to its own rules," said Scott Klundt, associate director of the Public Lands Council and one of the attorneys representing livestock producers. "This is what we've wanted all along – to have these ranchers' right to privacy recognized."

The PLC contended that the Forest Service violated its own rules in offering the settlement and agreeing to release the financial details. The Forest Service is to provide notice to ranchers who submit the records before the agency can release the information. Further, the agency should have given notice to ranchers that the Forest Guardians filed the suit. They failed to do any of this, Klundt said.

Calling the Forest Service's actions "extraordinary," Judge Mechem ruled that the Forest Service "didn't consider all it should have" in regard to ranchers' privacy. He further said the Forest Service should have regarded the escrow waivers as "confidential commercial" information.

"The ruling demonstrates that federal agencies can't arbitrarily make decisions," Klundt said.

In addition to the PLC, the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association and the Production Credit Association of New Mexico intervened in the lawsuit. A coalition of wholesale lenders also sought to intervene on behalf of banking interests.