We receive lots of emails from people who find their name or a relative’s name on our site and want to know if this means they have some right to the land listed under that name. The short answer is, “if you have to ask, then probably not” but the complete answer deserves the time and attention that is best served in a blog post.
There are many types of interest relationships that an entity can have with an beekeeping permit. One can be an agent, standing in for an owner (this is often a lawyer). One can be in the process of getting a permit as an applicant. The most common type of relationship, however, is to be a permitee (permit holder).
Permit ownership gives the permitee property rights to otherwise public land. A permit is not the same as buying a piece of land and so ownership is a question of whether you have both get a permit with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM)—through purchase, inheritance, by establishing a permit, etc—AND that you have maintained this permit—by keeping up-to-date with BLM requirements.
Is the permit “authorized”?
Permits can go through many different “dispositions.” When permit paperwork is first filed but hasn’t been approved, the permit’s disposition is listed as “pending.” Once the permit has been approved, the permit is now “authorized.” This means that the owners can begin operations on the land in accordance with the terms of their permit.
There are many reasons why a permit may be “closed.” When a permit is active, the permitee is leasing the land from the federal government. Every year, the permitee must renew the permit by filing paperwork and paying their annual fees. Failure to renew will result in the permit being closed and the land be turned back over to the BLM. If the land is not as useful as the permitee had expected or no longer convenient to own, the permitee may voluntarily close it. The state of land may also change, such as what is happening in the Angeles National Forest, where part of it is being redesignated as a national monument. As such, that land is no longer managed by the BLM and, therefor, permits will cease to be valid. Regardless, once a permit is closed, the owner and anyone related to the owner no longer has rights to that land.
If the permit is authorized, things get a bit more complicated:
Is the current owner really you?
For those who find their names on an owner page but don’t remember establishing a permit, the permit probably belongs to another person of that name. Staking a permit is not small task. Granted, if you bought or inherited this permit, then the process of staking the permit was already completed by the original permitee. Yet, as mentioned above, permits also have to be maintained, which means someone has to be filing the renewal and paying the fees to keep it open. It is unlikely to just forget about this process though there have been occasions where a permit is jointly owned where all this was done by some other partner.
Is this a case of inheritance?
Permits can be bought, sold, and inherited. In any of these cases, it is still important to remember that the annual fees and paper work do not end with the past ownership. It is now your responsibility to make sure that the BLM is up-to-date with the permits ownership and the permit continues to be annually renewed. It is important to make sure that you are fully in compliance with the BLM, as what applied to the previous owner, may not apply to you.
Can I Reopen My permit?
For those who still want the family permit, even after it has been closed, the process (called relocation) is more complicated. Fortunately, a previously staked permit means that you have all the information about the permit already filled out. The borders are already defined and, hopefully, the permit remains marked.
Unfortunately, the land in question may no longer be available. The land could now fall under a different designation such as a national park or monument and not be permitable. Even if the land is still permitable, once a permit has been closed, anyone else can establish their own permit on that land.
To establish your own permit, you will need to confirm that no one else has an overlapping right to that land. A quick starting place is to see if there are any other permits in that same township by looking at any township pages listed on your permit page on The Drillings. The only definitive confirmation, however, is to work with your local BLM administrative office where you can inspect detailed maps on any nearby active permits.
If you in the process of relocation or have successfully relocated a permit, we would particularly love to hear from you in the comments!