Conflicting bids over state land leases, and whether prior lease holders should get preferential treatment at the expense of public education revenues has spilled over into the Wyoming Legislature.

House Bill 318 would generally point away from conservation groups willing to pay two-to-three times as much for state land leases than the livestock producers who have long held those leases.

And one of the livestock producers who could lose some long-time leases includes Jim Magagna, executive director of the Wyoming Stock Growers and one of the state's foremost advocates for agricultural interests.

Magagna was targeted deliberately, said Jon Marvel, executive director of the conservation group Western Watersheds Project.

"Mr. Magagna is the representative and the face of Wyoming livestock interests," said Marvel. "We've bid on state grazing leases to symbolize the giveaway leasing to ranchers."

Marvel said he'd like to see greater competition over grazing leases, just as there is wide-open competition for mineral leases.

House Bill 318 is sponsored by Rep. Doug Samuelson, R-Cheyenne, chairman of the House Agriculture, Public Lands & Water Resources Committee, which gave the bill a unanimous "do-pass" recommendation last week.

Samuelson's bill amends earlier statutes to say that qualified applicants must have "actual and necessary use for the land and available forage."

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department leases 30,409.73 acres of state land for a variety of non-grazing purposes, such as access to hunting and fishing. Only two G&F-held leases are sublet to ranchers for grazing, according to the Office of State Lands and Investments.

Lynne Boomgaarden, State Lands director, said HB 318 establishes grazing as an "actual and necessary use." She said state land leases are not limited to grazing, citing programs that lease state lands to energy companies for compressor stations, to outfitters for temporary use, or for recreation.

Under the state constitution, revenues from state land leases fund public education.

Boomgaarden refused to speculate whether HB 318 would cost public education any money, since the bill would create a constricted, rather than open market for would-be lease bidders.

Her office leases some 3.67 million acres of state land, generating $188 million in revenues during fiscal year 2006.

A statement from Governor Dave Freudenthal's office indicated that he was not clear on what HB 318 would accomplish, nor had he spoken to Rep. Samuelson about it. The governor said he'd ask Boomgaarden for her interpretation of the bill.

Bidding war

Western Watersheds Project, a conservation group with offices in Idaho, Wyoming, Utah and California, has bid on 40 expiring state leases, representing 19,320.88 acres for $21,090. The organization estimates that amount to be two-to-three times earlier amounts bid by livestock producers who previously held those leases. Twelve of those expired state parcels had been leased by Magagna Brothers, on the southern end of the Wind River Range near Farson.

Western Watersheds bid $3,225 for 1,396.68 acres with 320 animal unit months' of forage that had previously been leased by the Magagna Brothers.

Other bids by Western Watersheds were on state parcels near Jeffrey City and Cokeville.

Under Wyoming law, the holder of an expiring lease has a preferential right to renew the lease if the holder meets any competing bid.

Yet Western Watershed's applications have been in "limbo" for over a month, according to Marvel, over a bureaucratic snafu about the legal name of Western Watersheds Project (formerly known as the Idaho Watersheds Project) and whether the non-profit organization is properly and legally registered with the Wyoming Secretary of State's Office.

A legal name change can be done for a $10 fee.

Jim Whalen, assistant director in the Office of State Lands, wrote to Marvel, saying Whalen is waiting for the Wyoming Attorney General's staff "to review the applications, rules of the (State Land) Board and Wyoming statutes and to render an opinion on several questions, including whether or not the applications should be accepted and process."

Ag response

Magagna said HB 318 would bring much-needed clarity to state statute language about state leasing.

"It has no bearing on me, because it couldn't be applied retroactively," he said.

Magagna said it isn't yet clear whether he or other livestock producers with expired leases would have to meet the higher bid made by Western Watersheds. That would be up to the State Lands Board, composed of the governor, secretary of state, state treasurer, state auditor and state superintendent of education.

Magagna said that grazing is a positive benefit to the land, as well as to the economic well-being of the ag industry.

To bid on a grazing lease, with no intention of grazing, said Magagna, is to "perpetrate a fraud."

He downplayed the fact that Western Watersheds is willing to pay two-to-three times what livestock producers have paid, saying the State Land Board has an interest in maintaining a healthy agricultural industry, as well as maintaining economic stability.

"Some ranchers have held state land leases for over a century," he said.

Unless WWP is willing to pay top dollar for state land leases for a long time, said Magagna, then any benefit of WWP leasing state lands would be temporary compared to the long-term costs of making nearby ranches economically unviable.

Jonathan Ratner, the Wyoming representative for Western Watersheds, said state lands are so scattered around the state that he doubts whether loss of a state lease would spell economic ruin for a rancher. Lands leased by Western Watersheds would simply get a much-needed rest from livestock grazing, he added.

Ron Sniffin, communications director for the Wyoming Education Association, said educators believe that elevation of one group over another in leasing state lands simply works to the detriment of school children.

"We believe school lands should go to the highest bidder," he said.

Wyoming Superintendent of Public Instruction Jim McBride said the choice of more money for public education versus stability for the ranching community is a "tough call."

In previous cases, the State Land Board's default position is for ranchers, he said, and he agrees with that n particularly since state coffers are overflowing with energy revenues.