JACKSON - A Wyoming organization has praised a national farming group for joining the Bureau of Land Management in fighting challenges to new grazing regulations designed to give ranchers a boost.

The Wyoming Farm Bureau Federation said it is "pleased" the American Farm Bureau Federation will seek intervenor status with the BLM. The agency was challenged by Western Watersheds Project, which said the grazing regulations amounted to a giveaway of public lands with curtailed public input.

Ken Hamilton, executive vice president of the Wyoming Farm Bureau, said his group asked the national group to intervene on behalf of several state farm bureaus.

The BLM's grazing regulations were to become effective in August, but a preliminary injunction was issued preventing that. A second injunction was issued last month, addressing more points of the grazing regulations.

At issue are regulations allowing the BLM more time to make changes to grazing practices if impacts are occurring on the range. A provision allowing joint ownership of rangeland improvements, including fencing and water structures, has also been challenged. Ranchers have argued that provision gives an incentive to invest in infrastructure on their allotments, and those improvements also benefit wildlife.

A federal judge in Idaho said the Western Watersheds Project "had a strong likelihood of success" to win a case challenging the legality of the new grazing regulations, and issued an injunction to prevent them from being implemented.

Jon Marvel, the group's executive director, said he feels confident the regulations will be overturned. The case next goes for deeper review in U.S. District Court in Idaho.

Marvel also said the involvement of the Farm Bureau "shows me that this national behemoth is concerned, and I'd say that shows that probably there's some desperation out there they're not getting their way."

"We filed the motion to intervene because we believe the Bureau of Land Management acted within its authority in issuing new grazing regulations and that they are appropriate. The new BLM regulations will benefit ranchers in nearly a dozen Western states," American Farm Bureau President Bob Stallman said in a statement. "Ranchers holding grazing permits generally move their livestock to public lands in the summer months, providing an important feed rotation that keeps their operations viable. Without grazing permits, ranchers would be forced to bear the additional cost of providing feed to their livestock year-round."

Environmental reporter Whitney Royster can be reached at (307) 734-0260 or at royster@tribcsp.com.