H.R. 5785 — Voluntary Grazing Permit Retirement Act of 2025

This section cites the Act as the “Voluntary Grazing Permit Retirement Act of 2025” and sets forth the table of contents.

This section states congressional findings that (1) voluntary grazing permit retirement has been a successful land management tool authorized by Congress in specific areas throughout the 16 western states, including Death Valley National Park, Capitol Reef National Park, Arches National Park, Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, Oregon Caves National Monument and Preserve, and wilderness areas in the Owyhee Canyonlands and Boulder-White Clouds; and (2) expanding that authority to all federal lands managed by the Departments of Agriculture and the Interior in those states will resolve land and resource management conflicts and provide grazing permittees and lessees with increased flexibility for their livestock operations.

This section defines key terms used in the Act, including "administratively retired grazing allotment" (i.e., a grazing allotment or portion thereof that becomes vacant or closed due to a permit or lease holder's voluntary waiver intending to permanently end livestock grazing as part of a third-party agreement), "commercial livestock grazing" and "livestock grazing" (i.e., authorized grazing of domestic livestock, excluding beasts of burden for recreational or administrative purposes), "grazing allotment," "grazing permit or lease," "permittee or lessee," "range developments" (i.e., structures, fences, and fixtures for livestock grazing, excluding rolling stock, livestock, and water diversions to non-Federal lands), "Secretaries" (i.e., Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior), "Secretary" (i.e., the appropriate Secretary of Agriculture or Interior), and "16 Western States" (i.e., Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming).

This section establishes a voluntary grazing permit retirement program on federal lands in the 16 western states. Under the program, the Secretary shall accept, on a first-come, first-served basis, waivers of grazing permits or leases intending a permanent end to livestock grazing on the allotment or portion thereof; immediately terminate accepted permits or leases; prohibit issuance of new permits or leases on the covered allotment; and ensure a permanent end to livestock grazing thereon. (For shared allotments covered in part by non-waived permits, the Secretary shall permanently reduce authorized grazing levels to reflect the waiver.) The program limits acceptance to 100 permits or leases per fiscal year in aggregate across all 16 states and 25 per state. This section further directs the Secretary to prohibit new permits or leases and ensure a permanent end to livestock grazing on allotments administratively retired prior to enactment.

This section deems a permittee or lessee who waives a grazing permit or lease under section 4 to have waived any claim to range developments (i.e., improvements such as fences or water facilities) on the covered land, notwithstanding other law. The section directs the Secretary to secure retired grazing allotments against trespass grazing by domestic livestock. The section further specifies that it does not affect (1) the Secretary's authority to modify or terminate grazing permits under other law or (2) valid existing rights to water or other interests held by the United States, Indian tribes, states, counties, municipalities, or private entities as of the date of enactment.