July 4th protest will go on, court order or no, organizers say

RENO, Nev. - A Fourth of July protest in northeastern Nevada will go forward even if a court issues an order blocking work on a remote dirt road that has become a flashpoint against federal control of public lands in the West, organizers said Tuesday.

"It has always been the position of many people across the West that the road will be opened, and that determination is still in place," Demar Dahl, president of The Shovel Brigade, said in a written statement.

Dahl's comment came amid mounting speculation that the U.S. attorney's office in Nevada would seek a temporary restraining order against the planned work party in the tiny hamlet of Jarbidge on the Nevada-Idaho border.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Howard Zlotnick early Tuesday would not say whether a restraining order was being sought.

A similar order from a federal judge halted the first organized attempt to reopen South Canyon Road with picks and shovels last October.

Since then, Elko County's feud with the U.S. Forest Service has escalated, gaining national attention. In January, tens of thousands of shovels were donated to the county from sympathizers around the West.

Shovel Brigade organizers say those tools will be used to reopen the road July 3-4, when organizers expect 3,000 to 5,000 people to turn out.

The feud centers on South Canyon Road, a 1.5-mile stretch of dirt road in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest that leads to a campground at the edge of a wilderness area. The road was washed out by floods in 1995.

Elko County and the Justice Department, representing the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, have been in court-ordered mediation in an ongoing dispute over who owns the road and whether it can be rebuilt without harming bull trout in the nearby Jarbidge River, home to the southernmost population of the threatened fish.

A proposed compromise announced last week could allow the road to be rebuilt in a new location after environmental impact studies are conducted. The agreement does not give the county ownership of the road that it sought, while environmentalists claim it doesn't do enough to protect the fish.

Elko County commissioners have scheduled a public hearing on the proposal Wednesday night and it was unclear whether they will sign the deal.

The Shovel Brigade, meanwhile, has maintained it was not included in mediation and therefore is not bound by the agreement reached with the county.

Nevada U.S. Attorney Kathryn Landreth has warned Dahl and the shovel rebels that they face criminal prosecution if any federal laws are violated at next week's gathering.

She also insisted that the group lacked the proper permits to work in the canyon.

But Dahl says permits aren't needed and no laws will be broken.

"No work will take place in or near the river, therefore the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act will not be violated," he said. "This event is planned as a peaceful demonstration and we intend that there will be no lawlessness or rude behavior."

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