The below-market federal grazing fee is just one of the many government subsidies that benefit Arizona’s public land ranchers. This list of other government assistance programs that help them is updated as new payments information is acquired, and when new subsidies are created.
Arizona Public Land Ranches That Benefited From Government Assistance
Federal Government Assistance Programs
- USDA-FSA Emergency Conservation Program (ECP)
- USDA-FSA Livestock Forage Disaster Program (LFP)
- USDA-NRCS Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP) Arizona Drought Program
- USDA-NRCS Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP)
- Arizona EQIP Recipients, 2004-2024
- Arizona Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP) Recipients, 2004-2017 (WHIP was absorbed by EQIP after 2014.)
- USDA-NRCS Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP)
- 2023 Arizona Strip Wildlife & Livestock Habitat Improvement – Lead Partner: Mule Deer Foundation, $1,219,512
- 2023 Grazing Management & Non-Lethal Predator Risk Mitigation in NM & AZ – Lead Partner: Western Landowners Alliance, $6,665,854
- 2023 Upper Verde River Watershed-Aquifer Protection & Resilient Grassland Conservation Strategy – Lead Partner: The Nature Conservancy, $12,439,024
- USDOI Burned Area Rehabilitation (BAR) Program
Arizona State Government Assistance Programs
- Arizona Game & Fish Department Habitat Partnership Committee (HPC)
- Arizona Game & Fish Department Heritage Fund
- Heritage Fund Ranch Agreements 2002-2022 (partial)
- Arizona Game & Fish Department Wildlife Restoration & Enhancement Fund (WHREF)
In 2006 the Legislature passed SB 1441 to create the WHREF with a one-time appropriation of $3.5 million. - Arizona Department of Agriculture Livestock Operator Fire & Flood Assistance Program (LOFFAP)
- Arizona Department of Agriculture Livestock & Crop Conservation Grant Program (LCCGP)
- LCCGP Grant Recipients, 2005-2016
- Arizona State Parks Open Space Reserve (OSR) Grant Recipients 2002 (OSR Grants became LCCGP Grants in 2005.)
- Arizona Livestock Loss Board (ALLB)*
- Arizona Department of Environmental Quality Nonpoint Source Pollution Reduction Grants*
- Arizona Department of Forestry & Wildfire Management Post-Wildfire Infrastructure Assistance Program (APWIAP)
- APWIAP Grants 2024 (final disbursement)
- APWIAP Grants July-December 2023
- APWIAP Grants January-June 2023
- APWIAP Grants August-December 2022
- APWIAP Grants as of August 10, 2022
- Individual APWIAP Grants
- APWIAP Grant 21-833 – Tonto Basin Grazing Allotments
- APWIAP Grant 21-830 – Lyons Fork Grazing Allotment
- APWIAP Grant 21-829 – Capitan Grazing Allotment
- APWIAP Grant 21-828 – Jones Grazing Allotment
- APWIAP Grant 21-827 – Superior Grazing Allotment
- APWIAP Grant 21-803 – Bear Fire
- APWIAP Grant 21-804 – Cow Canyon Fire
- APWIAP Grant 21-805 – Horton Complex Fire
- Arizona State Land Department Grazing Leases
- Arizona Water Protection Fund (AWPF)
- Open Range Laws
* These programs are administered by the state, but the funds are provided, conditionally, by the federal government.
Updates
On June 21, 2024, Gov. Katie Hobbs signed HB 2865, creating a new state agency called the Natural Resource Conservation District Board, comprised primarily of local NRCD supervisors. It's tasked with providing administrative assistance to the state's regional Natural Resource Conservation Districts, which was formerly the responsibility of the Arizona State Land Department. The initial operating funds for the Board will come from the Legislature's regular annual appropriation of $650,000 to the state's NRCDs. The NRCD Board is also responsible for dispensing "conservation" and "education" grants from a new NRCD Fund to the local NRCDs and Soil and Water Conservation Districts. The monies in the fund can include state appropriations, grants and contributions - although the Legislature didn't make an initial appropriation to the fund. Most of the grants dispensed by the Board will likely benefit ranchers, as most NRCD supervisors are ranchers.
On December 21, 2024, the U.S. Congress passed H.R. 10545, the American Relief Act, 2025. This appropriations bill included the Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2025, which specified that up to $2 billion was appropriated to provide assistance to producers of livestock,” as determined by the Secretary of Agriculture, “for losses incurred during calendar years 2023 and 2024 due to drought, wildfires, or floods.” It also specified that this assistance may be provided “in the form of block grants to eligible States and territories.”