43 U.S.C. § 316e — Preferences

This section sets an order of preference for grazing lease applications. When the Secretary decides who gets to lease grazing privileges, three groups get priority over everyone else, in this order: (1) Natives. (2) Other occupants of the range — people already using the land. (3) Settlers. Anyone outside these three groups ranks below them. This preference is not absolute. The Secretary only has to follow it "as far as is consistent with the efficient administration of the grazing district." That means the Secretary can depart from this order if following it would get in the way of running the district efficiently.