Ranchers see public lands as their own.

[KPN]

8. The problem with federal land grazing is we taxpayers or, more accurately, public land owners are

subsidizing a lifestyle. Grazing fees on federal lands are and always have been well below fees charged by private landowners for cattle grazing. Significantly so. The fee level is a result of immense lobbying by ranchers. There have been numerous attempts by the Bureau of Land Management, at least, to bring fees more in line with market prices.

Having said that, in defense of the Bureau of Land Management, I believe it is the only federal agency that pays for itself, i.e., contributes more to federal coffers via use/user and lease fees than it gets in its annual budget allocation.