Vol. 29, No. 6 #1 (December 2006). Wyoming's Agriculture and.

• Author: Natural Resource Mediation Program

Wyoming Bar Journal

2006.

Vol. 29, No. 6 #1 (December 2006).

Wyoming's Agriculture and

WYOMING LAWYER December 2006/Vol. 29, No. 6 Wyoming's Agriculture and Natural Resource Mediation Program

By Lucy Pauley * A borrower is referred to a financial analyst to help develop a financial plan. Through the mediation process, the borrower and FSA loan officer settle on a plan that allows the borrower to avoid foreclosure.

* The mediation coordinator receives a request and sets up a technical review team (TRT) to look at a Forest Service grazing allotment. Based on the TRT report, the grazing permittees and USFS district manager agree to changes in the permit that protect the resource and allow grazing to continue.

* A mediated family meeting is held to discuss the parents' plans for distribution of the family ranch. The family reaches an agreement outlining the key elements of an estate plan to distribute the ranch assets when the parents die.

* A split estate conflict arises. The mediator helps the parties resolve a surface use agreement dispute to ensure the economic development of the coalbed methane while minimizing disruption of the agricultural operation.

These are a few of the examples of mediations carried out under the Wyoming Agricultural and Natural Resource Mediation Program created by the Wyoming Legislature in 1987. Under the statute, mediation is a voluntary and confidential process in which a trained, neutral third party, the mediator, meets with primary decision-makers to help them develop a mutually satisfactory agreement.

The Program's Background

During the first half of the 1980s, Wyoming's farmers and ranchers - like agricultural producers throughout the U.S. - faced severe financial stress. A 1984 survey of Wyoming's farmers and ranchers indicated that 44% suffered net losses in their operations. Another 20% had net income under $5,000.

These numbers, though dramatic, do not fully capture the emotional as well as the financial pressure faced by Wyoming's producers during this period. A number of private, nonprofit and public organizations sprung up to provide emotional and financial counseling to Wyoming's rural residents. Starting in 1986, one private, nonprofit organization, the Wyoming Rural Support Network, hosted several meetings on the agricultural debt crisis. Nedalyn Testolin, the Network's...