“Their family owned the grazing rights before any “public land” was established. Should the law just give a thumbs up to negating prior contracts just because the government decides to grab some land and call it Federal property?”
And the “grab” was so that Harry Reid could give the land to the Chinks!
The “grab” I was speaking of happened about a century ago.
The western US came to USA as federal land via Mexican American war peace treaty in 1848, the Louisiana Purchase in 1807 IIRC and last the Oregon Territory purchase from the British. It all started as Federal territory and in the case of most the far Western states, the majority of the lands remain Federal. In order, the largest land owners in the west are the Department of the Interior (BLM, USFS) and DOD probably followed by the various Indian tribes. Heck, the Navajo and Hopi lands combined are probably just about as large as New England.