The Taylor Grazing Act of 1934 () is a
United States federal law
The law of the United States comprises many levels of codified and uncodified forms of law, of which the most important is the nation's Constitution, which prescribes the foundation of the federal government of the United States, as well as ...
that provides for the regulation of grazing on the
public land
In all modern states, a portion of land is held by central or local governments. This is called public land, state land, or Crown land (Australia, and Canada). The system of tenure of public land, and the terminology used, varies between countrie ...
s (excluding Alaska) to improve rangeland conditions and regulate their use.
The law initially permitted of previously unreserved public lands of the United States to be placed into grazing districts to be administered by the
Department of the Interior. As amended, the law now sets no limit on the amount of lands in grazing districts. Currently, there are approximately inside grazing allotments.
These can be vacant, unappropriated, and unreserved land from public lands, all except for
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...
,
national forests, parks, monuments,
Indian reservation
An Indian reservation is an area of land held and governed by a federally recognized Native American tribal nation whose government is accountable to the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs and not to the state government in which it ...
s, railroad grant lands, and revested
Coos Bay Wagon Road grant lands. Surrounding land owners may be granted right of passage over these districts. Permits are given for grazing privileges in the districts. Also permits can be given to build fences,
reservoirs
A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation.
Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including control ...
, and other improvements.
The permittees are required to pay a fee, and the permit cannot exceed ten years but is renewable. Permits can be revoked because of severe
drought
A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...
or other natural disasters that deplete grazing lands.
History
During the administration of President
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was an American politician who served as the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 and a member of the Republican Party, holding office during the onset of the Gr ...
, it became clear that federal regulation of public land use was needed to address the root causes of the
Dust Bowl
The Dust Bowl was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies during the 1930s. The phenomenon was caused by a combination of both natural factors (severe drought) an ...
. Since vast portions were used for livestock grazing, the importance of range management loomed large.
The advocacy of
John Francis Deeds, Chief of the Agricultural Division of the Geological Survey and Deputy Director of the Department's Grazing Division, was influential in bringing about the benefits of the Taylor Grazing Act.
Congressman
Don B. Colton
Don Byron Colton (September 15, 1876 – August 1, 1952) was a United States House of Representatives, U.S. Representative from Utah.
Early life
Born near Mona, Utah, Mona, Juab County, Utah, Juab County, Utah Territory, Colton moved with his p ...
of
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
introduced a bill to create grazing districts, but the bill failed to pass the
US Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and powe ...
. In 1933,
Edward T. Taylor, a
Representative
Representative may refer to:
Politics
* Representative democracy, type of democracy in which elected officials represent a group of people
* House of Representatives, legislative body in various countries or sub-national entities
* Legislator, som ...
from Colorado, reintroduced the Colton bill as the Taylor bill. This bill set up the grazing bureau, or service in the Department of Interior, to administer the range lands. The Grazing Service was merged with the
General Land Office
The General Land Office (GLO) was an independent agency of the United States government responsible for public domain lands in the United States. It was created in 1812 to take over functions previously conducted by the United States Department o ...
in 1946 to form the
Bureau of Land Management
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands. Headquartered in Washington DC, and with oversight over , it governs one eighth of the country's la ...
.
Case studies by
Phillip O. Foss
Phillip Oliver Foss (May 18, 1916 – October 14, 2001) an American political scientist, was born in Maxbass, North Dakota to Oliver Foss and Petra Elton Foss and died in Fort Collins, Colorado. He was a decorated veteran of World War II and the ...
on the role of local grazing advisory committees established by the Taylor Grazing Act in regulating the grazing of livestock on federal public lands found that such committees were often dominated by the same ranchers and cattlemen whose activities were supposed to be regulated, raising questions as to whether grazing regulation had been "
captured" by the regulated interests.
A 2022 study found the law, which demarcated property rights, led to greater land productivity in large grazing districts in the Western US.
Amendments to 1934 Act
U.S. Congressional amendments to the Grazing Act of 1934.
See also
*
Range war
A range war or range conflict is a type of usually violent conflict, most commonly in the 19th and early 20th centuries in the American West. The subject of these conflicts was control of " open range", or range land freely used for cattle grazing ...
*
Sheep Wars
References
*Ruth S. Musgrave, et al. (1998
Taylor Grazing Act Chapter 4: Statute Summaries, ''Federal Wildlife and Related Laws Handbook'', Rockville, Md.:
Government Institutes,
*Citation For Distinguished Service - John Francis Deeds - by Secretary of Interior Julius Albert Krug
External links
The Taylor Grazing Act Bureau of Land Management
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands. Headquartered in Washington DC, and with oversight over , it governs one eighth of the country's la ...
,
United States Department of the Interior
The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the mana ...
43 USC § 31543 USC § 316 Legal Information Institute
The Legal Information Institute (LII) is a non-profit, public service of Cornell Law School that provides no-cost access to current American and international legal research sources online alaw.cornell.edu The organization is a pioneer in the del ...
,
Cornell Law School
Cornell Law School is the law school of Cornell University, a private Ivy League university in Ithaca, New York. One of the five Ivy League law schools, it offers four law degree programs, JD, LLM, MSLS and JSD, along with several dual-deg ...
* {{cite web , url= http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=14930 , title= Franklin D. Roosevelt: "Veto of Amendments to the Taylor Grazing Act.," September 5, 1935 , author1=Peters, Gerhard , author2=Woolley, John T , publisher = University of California - Santa Barbara , work= The American Presidency Project , accessdate= 3 July 2016
1934 in law
73rd United States Congress
United States federal public land legislation
United States federal agriculture legislation