SUBLETTE COUNTY – A 640-acre grazing and agricultural lease located in southwestern Sublette County is being offered by the state of Wyoming with an application and sealed bid deadline of Feb. 2.

Lease 3-8230 is the only vacant Sublette County lease in the Office of State Lands and Investments’ (OSLI) Jan. 11 announcement. The lease area, near Mickelson Creek southwest of Daniel, is surrounded by private ranches, private property and Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service-managed lands that include permitted grazing allotments.

The Roundup’s questions to the OSLI about the parcel’s lease history and potential uses received a response from Cody Booth, Assistant Director of the OSLI’s Trust Land Management Division

“Vacant grazing lease number 3-8230 was previously leased by High Lonesome Ranch, a Wyoming Corporation, ‘High Lonesome.’ The lease was canceled because High Lonesome failed to meet statutory requirements,” Booth said on Jan. 19.

Monday, Booth explained that the lease was canceled due to nonpayment of the 10-year lease’s annual rent.

“At the end of the ten years, the lessee will have the ability to renew their lease if they meet the requirements in statute and rule,” he wrote in an email. “There is no limit on how many times a lease can be renewed.”

This state trust parcel is rated for 158 animal-unit months, or AUMs, with a minimum acceptable bid of $5.52 per AUM or $872.16 per year, according to the OSLI.

“To qualify to lease state lands, an individual or entity has to have actual and necessary use for the land and its forage,” Booth added. “As such, a grazing lease cannot be held by an individual or entity that has no ability or does not intend to use the lease for grazing and agriculture.”

A sealed bid, fee and completed application can be submitted to the OSLI through Feb. 2.

For more information about the vacant Lease 3-8230 and other vacant grazing and ag leases on state trust lands, visit https://lands.wyo.gov/.