Hammonds Drop Appeal To Compete For Lost Grazing Allotments

SALEM, Ore. (AP) – Hammond Ranches has dropped a legal challenge against the federal government, at least for now, to compete for access to cattle grazing allotments it lost in eastern Oregon last year.

The Capital Press reports the U.S. Bureau of Land Management can now choose whether the Hammond family or one of three neighboring ranches can use the 26,000-acre allotments.

In its application for a permit, Hammond Ranches warned that it would demand “immediate compensation” for its range improvements, water rights and intermingled private lands if BLM awards access to the allotments to another ranch.