{"id":2035,"date":"2014-09-22T13:13:58","date_gmt":"2014-09-22T20:13:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/?p=2035"},"modified":"2016-01-05T13:42:56","modified_gmt":"2016-01-05T21:42:56","slug":"driving-the-ranchers-off-the-land-part-5-of-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/?p=2035","title":{"rendered":"Driving the Ranchers Off the Land, Part 5 of 6"},"content":{"rendered":"

(NOTE: a condensed version of this report appears in the Autumn, 2014 issue of \u201cRange\u201d magazine, on newsstands now.)<\/em><\/p>\n

WHAT\u2019S \u2018THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF GRAZING\u2019?<\/strong><\/p>\n

With the BLM having turned tail on April 12, has Bundy won -\u2013 as his supporters hope and believe — or will the federals just lick their wounds before coming at him on some other front? Both the Mesquite City Council and the Clark County Commission have expressed support for a plan to turn the entire Gold Butte region into a \u201cfederal conservation area.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mark Andrews, a local photographer who\u2019s frequented the area for 35 years, writes to me that the \u201cBLM and the Friends of Gold Butte group have removed countless miles of road and open land access from free use. Places I used to go for decades are now blockaded. These are roads that are nearly 100 years old and in steady use. And this activity has become very aggressive and pronounced in the last 24 months. They seem to have a deep agenda regarding it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The area south of Mesquite \u201cis really the only public area Clark County has left that\u2019s not designated for some conservation area, or preserve, or monument, or whatever.\u201d Bundy says. \u201cI\u2019m really the only resource user who\u2019s still got any interest use in the land.\u201d <\/p>\n

Attempting to cooperate with their federal overseers, \u201cyear-by-year their operations were crippled by rising fees and reductions in AUM (animal units monthly),\u201d wrote Tim Findley in the summer, 1999, edition of Range. \u201cThe numbers of actively used allotments were rapidly diminishing. The cattlemen took their cases to court, and won, but the BLM simply imposed new \u2018force and effect\u2019 regulations. More ranchers gave up. . . .\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u201cright amount of grazing,\u201d in the minds of Mr. Bundy\u2019s adversaries, is no grazing. So let\u2019s not pretend this is about the minuscule contribution Bundy\u2019s grazing fees might make to balancing the federal budget.<\/p>\n

The real plan here is to turn hundreds more square miles into another \u201cfederal conservation area,\u201d if not an outright \u201cwilderness.\u201d How is that supposed to generate any more federal revenue, let alone significant local economic activity?<\/p>\n

The Las Vegas Review-Journal \u2013 Nevada\u2019s big daily — regularly receives letters to the editor which are essentially form letters, though they bear different signatures. Typical was one received in 2012 above the signature of Terri Rylander, a member of \u201cFriends of Gold Butte,\u201d in which Ms. Rylander identifies herself as \u201ca business owner living in Mesquite. (Her business is marketing and Web page design.) In a piece of boilerplate common to most of these letters, hers asserts: \u201cPeople may visit special places like Red Rock Canyon and Gold Butte for different reasons \u2014 camping, hunting, hiking, bird watching \u2014 but all visitors spend money in our communities at restaurants, hotels, gas stations, and retail stores. Protecting Gold Butte as a national conservation area with wilderness will put this unique area on the map, drawing visitors \u2026 and ensure a steady stream of revenue to local communities like Mesquite.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018NOT GOOD FOR LOCAL ECONOMIES\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

A June, 2011 study conducted by researchers at the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business, Utah State University, holds otherwise.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe find that when controlling for other types of federally held land and additional factors impacting economic conditions, federally designated Wilderness negatively impacts local economic conditions,\u201d wrote USU researchers Brian C. Steed, Ryan M. Yonk, and Randy Simmons. \u201cSpecifically, we find a significant negative relationship between the presence of Wilderness and county total payroll, county tax receipts, and county average household income. . . .\u201d<\/p>\n

Why?<\/p>\n

\u201cWilderness . . . is the most restrictive of all federal land-use designations,\u201d the Utah researchers point out. \u201cTo preserve wild characteristics, the Wilderness designation prohibits roads, road construction, mechanized travel, and the use of mechanized equipment. Wilderness also impacts extractive industries such as mining, logging, and grazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a footnote, the researchers explain: \u201cGrazing is expressly allowed in Wilderness Areas, but administrators may make \u2018reasonable regulations\u2019 including the reduction of grazing to improve range conditions. . . .\u201d<\/p>\n

Ask Cliven Bundy about those \u201creasonable regulations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEnvironmentalists claim that Wilderness contributes to a healthy tourism industry,\u201d the Utah researchers continue. But \u201dThe argument often stated by the environmental community that Wilderness is good for local economies is simply not supported by the data. If the test for whether or not to designate Wilderness is economic, Wilderness fails.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nor is it clear that cattle grazing damages the range. In fact, there\u2019s plenty of evidence that ranchers with their drip lines and water tanks — supporting quail and deer and other populations as well as cattle \u2014 and the ungulates themselves, cropping the graze close enough to the ground to allow new green shoots accessible to the tortoise while reducing the fuel build-up that fosters wildfires — are a net benefit to the country, before we even consider our need for wholesome, free-range beef.<\/p>\n

Citizens of any state East of the Rockies would likely riot at a proposal that the federal government take over 86 percent of their state\u2019s land area, systematically evicting them and regulating their property rights out of existence. The crippling economic consequences of such a taking would be obvious. How, then, did Nevada get into precisely that bind?<\/p>\n

In his 1999 profile of Bundy for Range magazine, Tim Findley reported Cliven Bundy in the 1970s was willing to embrace the \u201cmultiple use\u201d of the rangelands then being promoted. \u201cHe was patient and tried to cooperate with advice from those he considered his friends in the BLM,\u201d Findley wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut everything we tried to do — every time we tried some compromise — they wanted more,\u201d Bundy told Findley. \u201cIt was like talking to a greedy landlord. Everything became lockout or lockup.\u201d<\/p>\n

Findley then referred to former Nevada District Court Judge and rancher Clel Georgetta, who for the first time in his 1972 book \u201cGolden Fleece in Nevada\u201d presented the then \u201calmost subversive\u201d legal doctrine that claims by the federal government to more than 86 percent of the land of Nevada \u201camounted not only to a violation of the intention of Lincoln\u2019s administration in promoting Nevada\u2019s statehood in 1864, but of previous constitutional findings on the \u2018equal footing\u2019 of states admitted to the union.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thus was born the \u201cSagebrush Rebellion.\u201d 1979 legislation introduced by then-state Sen. Dean Rhoads, directing the state attorney general to sue the federal government for control of all federal lands not specifically set aside for federal forts, post offices or Indian reservations, \u201cis still a part of Nevada law,\u201d Findley reported, \u201cbacked even more by a statewide referendum in 1996 in which voters overwhelmingly supported the idea of state control of public lands.\u201d<\/p>\n

So why hasn\u2019t it happened?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Nevada attorney general has never taken the argument to federal courts,\u201d Findley explained.<\/p>\n

The last state attorney general to specifically, personally promise me he would bring that \u201cno jurisdiction\u201d claim to federal court (specifically, in the matter of Yucca Mountain) — and then fail to do so? Brian Sandoval.<\/p>\n

\u2018PUBLIC LANDS ARE A MYTH\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

In his 1989 book \u201cStorm Over Rangelands,\u201d the late Nevada rancher Wayne Hage detailed how ranchers, miners, and others possess split title to the Western lands.<\/p>\n

Though a foreign concept east of the Rockies, here in the arid West it\u2019s not unusual for different parties to own, say, the grazing and water rights versus the mineral rights to overlapping parcels of land, while neither claims to \u201cown\u201d all the land, outright. This system, deemed appropriate to the landscape, has been established over 170 years, and federal attempts to regulate those long-established rights out of existence violate basic constitutional rights, Hage argued.<\/p>\n

\u201cPublic lands are a myth,\u201d Hage wrote. \u201cThe lands are already privatized. We already have those rights, and the federal government does not have jurisdiction.\u201d
\nThe BLM confiscated Hage\u2019s cattle, up Tonopah way. He fought them through the courts for years — and won.<\/p>\n

In fact, at www.thenewamerican.com\/usnews\/constitution\/item\/18056-war-on-the-west-why-more-bundy-standoffs-are-coming, William F. Jasper wrote on April 15 that Chief Judge Robert C. Jones of the Federal District Court of Nevada last year ruled the BLM had been engaged in a decades-long criminal \u201cconspiracy\u201d against the Wayne Hage family, fellow ranchers and friends of the Bundys. Among other things, Judge Jones accused the federal bureaucrats of racketeering under the federal RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corruption Organizations) statute, and accused them as well of extortion, mail fraud, and fraud, in an effort \u201cto kill the business of Mr. Hage.\u201d In fact, the government\u2019s actions were so malicious, said the judge, as to \u201cshock the conscience of the Court.\u201d Judge Jones granted an injunction against the agencies and referred area BLM and Forest Service managers to the Justice Department for prosecution.<\/p>\n

\u201cHas Attorney General Eric Holder prosecuted any federal officials for criminal activity and violation of the Hage family\u2019s constitutionally protected rights?\u201d Mr. Jasper asks. \u201cNo. Has Sen. Harry Reid denounced this lawlessness and criminal activity by government officials and call upon President Obama and Attorney General Holder to protect the citizens of his state from the depredations of federal officials under their command? No.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wayne Hage died soon after winning his decades-long court fight. His daughters continue the struggle.<\/p>\n

Ironically enough, Nevada ranchers themselves have resisted reform in the past — big operators up north reportedly like it just fine that they don\u2019t owe any county property taxes on most of the land they graze.<\/p>\n

Findley\u2019s 1999 piece for \u201cRange\u201d has President Ronald Reagan asking his Interior Secretary, James Watt, why the federal government couldn\u2019t end its dominion over nearly one-third of the nation\u2019s lands by selling them off or transferring them back to the states. Watt had to explain to the president that wasn\u2019t really what the ranchers wanted.<\/p>\n

Years later, addressing a 1994 cattleman\u2019s meeting, \u201cWatt said Nevada sabotaged the Sagebrush Rebellion,\u201d related Demar Dahl, former head of the state cattleman\u2019s association. \u201cWhen it came down to it, a lot of the big ranchers were afraid of losing their (federal) allotments.\u201d<\/p>\n

Local politicians, as well, find it \u201chard to turn down that $5 million or whatever,\u201d that Uncle Sam routinely showers on local municipalities, Bundy acknowledges. \u201cMy side don\u2019t have much cash. But the other side has put us, what is it, $60 trillion in debt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed they have. Yet one of these days they will descend again, with trucks and helicopters and \u201ccontract cowboys,\u201d hired with mostly borrowed money, to try and drive the last cattle rancher in Clark County out of business.<\/p>\n

Why?<\/p>\n

Sitting in his living room on April 24, Cliven told me about riding his horse along the west shore of Lake Mead this winter, many miles south of his ranch, looking for strays.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere used to be lots of four-wheeler trails goin\u2019 to the water; now they\u2019ve all been cabled off, it\u2019s all no-parkin\u2019, so you can\u2019t get in there,\u201d he explained. Cliven figures he rode his horse 30 miles, from Overton to Echo Bay, along the shores of a lake which is supposedly a \u201cNational Recreation Area.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw four or five cows, eight or 10 donkeys, and no people. Maybe two boats out on the lake, senior citizens fishin\u2019. I was out there on Fridays and Saturdays, beautiful weather, and I didn\u2019t see any people except for a few rangers and Parks Service maintenance people. The people quit usin\u2019 it. They\u2019ve got a new million-dollar toll station gate, and nobody usin\u2019 it. The people don\u2019t feel welcome.\u201d<\/p>\n

NEXT TIME: IS IT ALL TO SAVE THE TORTOISE?<\/strong><\/p>\n

(END PART FIVE OF SIX: \u201cDriving the Ranchers Off the Land\u201d)<\/em><\/p>\n

FOR PART SIX, click HERE.<\/a><\/p>\n

FOR PART FOUR, click HERE.<\/a><\/p>\n

NOTE: Newsstand distribution of \u201cRange\u201d can be quirky, through no fault of the publishers. But anyone can call 1-800-RANGE-4-U and ask for a sample copy (or pay $5 to have the current issue mailed.)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(NOTE: a condensed version of this report appears in the Autumn, 2014 issue of \u201cRange\u201d magazine, on newsstands now.) WHAT\u2019S \u2018THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF GRAZING\u2019? With the BLM having turned tail on April 12, has Bundy won -\u2013 as his supporters hope and believe — or will the federals just lick their wounds before coming […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[17,12,10,35,49,27,29,46,22,34,4,3,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-big-brother","category-common-defense","category-due-process","category-earth-stewardship","category-endangered-species","category-extreme-green","category-heroes","category-law-enforcement","category-media","category-nevada","category-private-property","category-public-land","category-taxation"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pWqFl-wP","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2035"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2035\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2908,"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2035\/revisions\/2908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}