His fee numbers are way off. There is no way a Nevada range permit - or any government range permit - is costing $13.50/AUM. I rent irrigated pasture for less than that - and my rent is considered high. I have rented pasture, not rangeland, for as little as $8/AUM - in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, where cattle will do much better that the 300+ acres per unit per year requirements of Nevada range.
I agree the $13.50 per month is way off. According the following DOI Land Mangement article the current AUM is $1.35/mo. I think there was a decimal error in the post you cite.
http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/grazing.html
Federal Grazing Fee
The Federal grazing fee, which applies to Federal lands in 16 Western states on public lands
managed by the BLM and the U.S. Forest Service, is adjusted annually and is calculated by using
a formula originally set by Congress in the Public Rangelands Improvement Act of 1978.
Under this formula, as modified and extended by a presidential Executive Order issued
in 1986, the grazing fee cannot fall below $1.35 per animal unit month (AUM); .....
end snip
Ultimately at some point this will be decided in a court of law. How long it takes is anyone’s
guess. The BLM is preceeding with an all encompassing review of gov’t lands in Tx/Ok/Ks
with a completion date of 2017 for new regs in place. Who knows what all will come of this
and the time frame for expansion into other states. This is were the 90,000 acre Texas
land take is being discussed.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/219455667/OFO-Newsletter-Final-i