Where Is the Biggest Money In Grazing Permits?

This is a difficult question to answer.

Maybe start here to narrow the scope.  Do some investigation.  Perhaps find a methodology to apply to other states.

http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/prog/grazing.html

"There are about 45 million acres of public rangelands in Nevada. These rangelands are divided into 745 grazing allotments. There are 550 operators, or permittees, with a total of 635 permits to graze livestock."

BLM site says there are a total of 18,000 grazing permits on BLM managed land.  This narrows the scope to 550 operators with 635 permits.  Obviously a sparse land on which to graze cattle. 

Doing some high order math: 550 operators hold 635 permits.  Some operators have more than one permit.  At the least, 85 of the 550 operators each would have more than one permit.  At the most, one operator would have 86 permits.  The real number is somewhere in between.  If permits are for large areas then the operator  holders of more than one permit are among the big holders.

The big permit holders are probably in the cattle grazing business.  Who does the most cattle raising business in Nevada.  There might be a correlation.

This chart narrow the scope with some metrics:

Nevada Allotments, Acres, and Operators by District Source: Rangeland Administration System Database Data current as of September 17, 2010 (Please note: This table is only intended to provide a snapshot in time of data that can and does change.)
DATA PERTAINS Elko TO WITHIN ALLOTMENTS	Winnemucca	Carson City	Ely	Southern Nevada	Battle TOTALS Mountain
Public Acres 6,668,614	9,277,772	5,208,826	11,382,856	192,824	12,121,928 44,852,820
% of Total 14.87%	20.68%	11.61%	25.38%	0.43%	27.03% 100%
Other Acres* 2,566,428	1,906,203	458,440	111,872	8,077	732,118 5,783,138
% of Total 44.38%	32.96%	7.93%	1.93%	0.14%	12.66% 100%
Total Acres 9,235,042	11,183,975	5,667,266	11,494,728	200,901	12,854,046 50,635,958
% of Total 18.24%	22.09%	11.19%	22.70%	0.40%	25.39% 100%
Number 161 Operators**	95	52	136	5	70 ***519
% of Total 31.02%	18.30%	10.02%	26.20%	0.96%	13.49% 100%
Number Allotments 239	104	114	239	5	93 794
% of Total 30.10%	13.10%	14.36%	30.10%	0.63%	11.71% 100%
* Includes "private," "other federal" and "state" in one total.
**Unique entities as entered into Rangeland Administration System (RAS). Some operators hold permits in more than one district.
*** Number of unique operators in Nevada as a whole is 487 ‐ but even this is not quite accurate. Some operators hold permits in their individual names, but also have a controlling interest in the corporations that hold permits in the corporations’ names.    While following this research trail to find operator identity I found this link: http://www.blm.gov/ras/ Joy!  My government working for me: "On December 29, 2010, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) published a notice in the Federal Register (Vol. 75, Number 249, pp. 82061 - 82064 [Bureau of Land Management’s Range Management System—Interior, LLM–2; Notice To Amend an Existing System of Records; Privacy Act of 1974; as Amended]) proposing to change the way BLM manages and releases grazing permit and lease information, including names and addresses.  This change became final on February 8, 2011. This website provides information about grazing administration on the National System of Public Lands, including names and addresses of all grazing permit and lease holders who graze livestock on these lands.  This information is provided in consideration of a United States District Court, District of Idaho decision in Case No. CV 09-482-CWD.  In that case, the Court found that there was substantial public interest in understanding the scope of the grazing and rangeland program, including knowing how many individuals or entities actually graze cattle on public lands, as well as the size and scope of their operations, and that this public interest outweighed the permit holders’ privacy interest in their names, addresses and authorization numbers.  The change makes the routine use of grazing administration information by BLM and U.S. Forest Service more consistent." And more from the link: The reports available on this website are generated from the information stored in the BLM rangeland administration electronic database.  They include allotment information and operator information.  Allotment information provided includes:  allotment identification; size; amount of private, state and public land administered; amount of forage use authorized, both active and suspended, for all operators using the allotment; proportion of forage in the allotment produced on public land; existence of an allotment management plan and identification of the grazing operator(s).  Operator information provided includes the:  authorization number; name, address and date the authorization was issued, including expiration date; allotments used by operator; kind and number of livestock; and period of use and forage amount authorized for use by the operator. The following public Rangeland Administration Reports (RAS) are available from this website. For information on the report click on the Report Summaries or on any of the following reports. To run reports you must have TLS 1.0 enabled on your Internet Browser, see instructions. Allotment Information Allotment Master Authorized Use by Allotment Operator Information Permits Schedule Information GeoCommunicator Maps To view the range allotments and pasture in an interactive mapping environment go to the GeoCommunicator Web site. The allotment master and use reports from the RAS system are also available from GeoCommunicator when using the Identify Tool. Rangeland mapping guide Rangeland Interactive Maps in GeoCommunicator GeoCommunicator Home Page This makes it all as easy as falling off the high horse, or wagon! This link is the Reporting Application that opens the keys to the kingdom of Information! http://www.blm.gov/landandresourcesreports/rptapp/menu.cfm?appCd=6 One step away from getting range land operator information: http://www.blm.gov/landandresourcesreports/rptapp/report_filter.cfm Choose an office and I get this: https://epmpub.blm.gov/workspace/browse/get/RAS_Public Waaah!  Lucy just pulled the foot ball.  I fell off the horse at full gallop to the goal line! So close but so far away........No way?..........Way? Maybe this will get something: