Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Rebelling ranchers: Sagebrush movement continues fight for land

Rancher Cliven Bundy scatters cattle along the hilly range above his Riverside home by piping spring water to strategically placed metal troughs.

By reducing the distance between watering holes, Bundy said he prevents overgrazing of the land he uses 70 miles northeast of Las Vegas. Doves, quail and other wildlife also take advantage of the troughs, reinforcing his belief that he is improving the environment as well as hunting opportunities.

But for 10 years he has been fighting the Bureau of Land Management, which claims he is trespassing on its range land because he refuses to pay grazing fees.

"The BLM (officials) started calling themselves land managers and then landlords and then claimed they owned the land," Bundy said. "Instead of spending my time ranching, I'm spending my time fighting to hang onto my rights."

Bundy, 54, has come to symbolize the Sagebrush Rebellion, a radical states' rights movement started by Nevada ranchers in the 1970s. Rebels such as Bundy disdain the fact that 87 percent of Nevada land is owned and managed by the federal government.

The rebellion seemingly died in 1996 when a federal judge ruled unconstitutional a 1979 state law claiming Nevada had power over all public land within its borders. The federal government claims ownership of much of the West because that land was ceded to it in 1848 via the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo at the conclusion of the Mexican-American War.

But the rebels, who go by such names as the Nevada Committee for Full Statehood and Nevada Freedom Coalition, scored their biggest victory in 22 years on April 26 when the Democratic-controlled Assembly overwhelmingly passed Assembly Bill 391. That legislation would have given counties more authority over public land within their boundaries.

The Sagebrush victory was short-lived, however. On a simple voice vote requested the next day by Sen. Randolph Townsend, R-Reno, the Republican-controlled Senate unanimously killed AB391 without discussion.

The vote befuddled supporters such as Carson City attorney David Horton, co-author of the bill.

"It kind of made a mockery of the Senate as a deliberative body," Horton said. "The problem with the Senate procedure is that it didn't allow for examination of the bill."

But BLM spokesman Bob Stewart said the rebels' position is flawed because the U.S. Constitution recognizes federal land rights, including the acreage granted in the 1848 treaty.

"The United States has the authority to manage the territory that belongs to the U.S.," Stewart said. "The United States Supreme Court has held that territory can be interpreted as land. The land can be distributed to the states, but there is no provision that the land had to be given to the states."

As rebel supporters have since learned, even rural lawmakers are no longer as fond of the Sagebrush Rebellion as they once were.

That was evident in a March 7 letter that Assemblyman John Carpenter, R-Elko, wrote to Nevada Committee for Full Statehood member Carolyn Bauer of Sparks. The letter was prompted by the pro-Sagebrush committee's accusation that he was standoffish toward its petition demanding enforcement of the state public-lands act.

"I have stood for states' rights and return of our land longer than the people who are on the committee," Carpenter wrote. "Now don't get me wrong. I believe in your cause, but the reality is that there are too many court cases, which have gone against your petition."

Constitutional problems with the 1979 law were reiterated by the Nevada attorney general's office and Legislative Counsel Bureau in letters to the Assembly criticizing AB391.

"This office accepts, as it should and must, the legislative findings that extensive federal ownership of land in the state is onerous, and that the state has a strong moral claim upon the public lands," wrote Senior Deputy Attorney General C. Wayne Howle on March 28. "However, this office did not before, and cannot even with the proposed amendments, state a good faith legal argument in support of a legal claim to the lands."

The Assembly eventually passed a watered-down AB391.

But Horton said the Senate defeat would not kill the rebellion. Instead, he expects that individual counties will consider ordinances to expand their authority over public land for fires and other emergencies.

Horton said it's possible the ordinances will be modeled after a New Mexico law that gives its counties the authority to remove hazardous undergrowth and fire-damaged trees from public land without federal permission. That law, signed in March by Gov. Gary Johnson, was in response to forest fires last year that his state blamed on federal negligence.

"The counties should pick areas where there is already statutory support," Horton said. "The problem is that the feds do not pay attention to local law."

One gets a different perspective from BLM law enforcement ranger Ron Crayton of Las Vegas. Crayton, a nine-year BLM veteran who patrols about a million acres of Southern Nevada desert, spends most of his time looking for unlawful off-roaders such as dirt bikers or for illegal dumps of household or commercial waste.

But he said his encounters with individuals who challenge his authority are rare.

"A lot of this job is simply showing a presence," Crayton said. "If an ATV (all-terrain vehicle) won't stop for you, there's no sense chasing it. I would rather educate someone than write them a ticket."

Bundy, whose ancestors began ranching the Riverside area in the 1870s, claims unfettered right to graze where he does because his family has always held water rights in that area.

Like other ranchers who joined the Sagebrush Rebellion, Bundy opposed BLM's expanding authority in the past 25 years that prohibited or restricted grazing in areas deemed historically or environmentally sensitive. About 10 years ago he "fired" the agency by withholding grazing fees.

The BLM's expanding authority is the main reason Clark County, which had more than 50 ranches 10 years ago, is now almost out of the ranching business, Bundy said. He also blamed rural lawmakers for abandoning the rebellion by killing AB391.

"Anything they would have passed would have strengthened public-land law and state sovereignty, but they ruined that," Bundy said. "We'll continue to fight for full statehood the rest of our lives."

But BLM spokeswoman Jo Simpson said Bundy is one of no more than five ranchers who refuse to pay federal grazing fees in Nevada. Although Bundy has been repeatedly cited for trespassing and has lost in federal court, the BLM has yet to crack down on his operation.

"We do intend to take action," Simpson said without elaborating. "That can range from voluntary compliance, which we prefer, to impoundment of cattle.

"We have more in common with most ranchers than we have differences. Most ranchers do a good job and are in compliance with their permits."

That was echoed by Betsy MacFarlan, Nevada Cattlemen's Association executive director in Elko, who said there are more than 600 grazing-permit holders in the state.

"There are individuals who would say the Sagebrush Rebellion still exists, but Cliven is on the extreme fringe," MacFarlan said. "The majority of ranchers in this state abide by the law."

MacFarlan conceded that most Nevada ranchers have moderated their view toward the federal government. For example, last month members of the state cattlemen's association met in Washington with Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman and top BLM officials.

Increased cooperation between federal and local authorities also has occurred in Nye County, whose fight over road access led to the 1996 federal court ruling that declared the state public-lands act unconstitutional.

Nye County Commissioner Dick Carver, who made the cover of Time magazine in 1995 for his part in the fight over road access, said his county has enjoyed cordial relations with the BLM and Forest Service in recent years.

"I just had a meeting with them, and they asked how they can help us," Carver said. "That's a lot better than it was years ago."

Rural state legislators also have toned down their anti-federal rhetoric while holding out hope that the Bush administration will be friendlier toward ranchers and miners than former President Bill Clinton was.

Sen. Dean Rhoads, R-Tuscarora, said this is a bad time to confront the federal government.

"It would rock the boat and send the message that we do not want to cooperate," Rhoads said. "I anticipate the Bush administration will look upon it favorably to release more lands in the West."

Join the Discussion:

Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.

Full comments policy