Federal grazing programs that set fees far below private market rates are being captured by very wealthy landowners and corporate operators, producing outsized private returns while taxpayers underwrite environmental damages and infrastructure costs. The Trump administration’s push to expand access or relax rules would scale those transfers and lock in distributional and ecological harms.
— If public‑land policy functions as a hidden subsidy to the wealthy, debates about inequality, conservation, and federal budget priorities must reckon with who benefits and whether the statute (and fee formula) matches current policy goals.
Roberto “Bear” Guerra
2025.12.03
90% relevant
The article documents elected officials and local political networks helping ranchers evade enforcement of grazing permits on federal lands—exactly the mechanism by which underpriced public‑land privileges become de facto subsidies captured by politically connected users described in the existing idea. The Forest Service notice of noncompliance, local politician interventions, and the spread of invasive grasses near Grand Junction concretely link this reporting to the broader pattern of public‑land capture.
Roberto “Bear” Guerra
2025.12.02
100% relevant
ProPublica names billionaire owner Stan Kroenke’s Winecup Gamble Ranch using public grazing at deeply discounted fees and reports the Trump administration’s plan to loosen access on Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service acreage.
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