The federal grazing fee for lands managed both by the U-S Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management will remain unchanged this year at $1.35 per head month.

That’s the minimum fee set back in 1986, when President Ronald Reagan issued an Executive Order continuing the formula for calculating the grazing fee established by Congress in 1978. The fee rose as high as $1.92 in 1992, but has been at the $1.35 minimum for 13 of the 21 years since then.

The Forest Service and BLM use different terms…head month and animal unit month…that are treated the same for fee purposes. They’re defined as one cow and calf, one horse, or 5 sheep or goats grazing on the land for a month.

The grazing fee is computed annually using a 1966 base value of $1.23, adjusted for 3 factors: current private grazing land lease rates, beef cattle prices, and the cost of livestock production.

The $1.35 a month fee applies to more than 8,000 permits administered by the Forest Service and nearly 18,000 grazing permits and leases administered by BLM.