U.S. attorney issues warning in national forest road dispute

RENO, Nev. - The U.S. attorney for Nevada is warning Elko County organizers of a July 4 protest that the "Shovel Brigade" will break a series of federal laws if it goes through with plans to rebuild a national forest road near threatened trout.

But Shovel Brigade President Demar Dahl insisted Thursday that he is moving ahead with plans to reclaim the road at the Independence Day rally expected to attract thousands to the tiny northeast Nevada town of Jarbidge.

U.S. Attorney Kathryn Landreth said in a letter to Dahl and other organizers that she was aware of statements they made about their plan to "perform this construction without regard to the federal regulations that apply to this activity. ...

"This letter serves to inform you that the Shovel Brigade must seek federal permits before attempting to perform any earth disturbing activity on or near the South Canyon Road," she said in the June 9 letter obtained by The Associated Press.

"Failure to do so will expose the Shovel Brigade and its individual officers, directors and members to the risk of criminal and civil sanctions," she wrote.

The Endangered Species Act, Clean Water Act and National Environmental Policy Act are among the laws that could be violated if the rebuilding of the road goes forward as advertised, said Landreth, chief federal prosecutor in Nevada.

Criminal penalties could include up to three years in prison and fines of $50,000 per day of violation, she noted.

If the protesters fail to seek the necessary federal permits or engage in "any construction, reconstruction or earth disturbing activities on the South Canyon Road, the United States will seek any and all sanctions and remedies available to it under law," Landreth said.

She also sent the organizers a copy of an application form for the special use permit she said they must obtain from the Forest Service to work on the road, which runs along the Jarbidge River.

"The United States position is, and has been, that the South Canyon Road is located on public lands managed by the United States Forest Service and that it may be restored only after compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act and other applicable federal laws and regulations," Landreth said.

Elko County and the Justice Department, representing the Forest Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services, are in federal court-ordered mediation in an ongoing dispute over who owns the washed out road and whether reconstruction work would harm the threatened bull trout by disturbing the stream bed or adding too much silt to the river.

The government contends rebuilding the road within the boundaries of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest would jeopardize the survival of the southernmost surviving population of the fish in the Lower 48 states.

But Elko County doesn't recognize federal jurisdiction of the road, arguing it was there long before the national forest was established in the early 1900s.

Dahl, an Elko rancher who ran an unsuccessful Republican Senate campaign against Democratic Sen. Harry Reid in 1992, said the work party planned on the Fourth of July won't get anywhere near the river or the threatened fish.

He said they intend to work in an area of the road where the Forest Service dumped a pile of dirt to close off the road about 900 feet from where the road was washed out.

Therefore, Dahl said they don't need a permit to comply with Clean Water Act.

"There was a misunderstanding. We are not going to be in the water," Dahl said.

Dahl said it would be a waste of time to apply for a special use permit.

"Her position is it is a Forest Service road. Our position is it is a county road," he said.

"We, with some certainty believe we would be denied if we applied for a permit. We also don't believe we should be required to have a permit from them to work on a county road," he said.

U.S. District Judge David Hagen ordered mediation late last year after Landreth obtained a temporary restraining order blocking a similar work party from plans to reconstruct the road in October.

Another mediation meeting is scheduled Tuesday.

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