The Patriot Post® · Nevada Ranch Dispute Cools as Feds Retreat

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has retreated from the standoff with Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy over cattle grazing on federal land. Newly installed BLM director Neil Kornze said in a statement, “Based on information about conditions on the ground, and in consultation with law enforcement, we have made a decision to conclude the cattle gather because of our serious concern about the safety of employees and members of the public.” Yet that hardly means this conflict is over.

That “serious concern” no doubt arose because after armed federal agents descended on the area, tasing and arresting Bundy’s son among others, he threatened a “range war” and invoked Ruby Ridge and Waco. On top of that, thousands of people gathered around the ranch to show their support for Bundy’s act if civil disobedience. Some of them were armed, and they greatly outnumbered the federals, so rather than risk igniting another sagebrush rebellion, the feds backed off. As for their support for Bundy, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said, “These people, who hold themselves out to be patriots are not. They’re nothing more than domestic terrorists. I repeat: what went on up there was domestic terrorism.”

For background, BLM agents had confiscated hundreds of Bundy’s cattle, alleging they were trespassing on the 600,000-acre Gold Butte area north of Las Vegas. Bundy claims his family has homestead rights in the area going back more than 100 years. “I have raised cattle on that land, which is public land for the people of Clark County, all my life,” he said. “Why I raise cattle there and why I can raise cattle there is because I have preemptive rights.”

The federal government began regulating the land in the 1930s because of supposed overgrazing, and they’ve been working to drive ranchers out of the area ever since. For example, BLM demanded Bundy reduce his herd to an unsustainable 150 cattle. So Bundy quit paying the federal government for grazing rights in 1993 because, he said, “BLM was supposed to be land managers and they were managing my ranch out of business.” Bundy has paid fees to Clark County, Nevada, however, but BLM claims Bundy owes more than $1 million in unpaid grazing fees. Then in 1998 the feds declared the land off-limits altogether in order to protect the desert tortoise. Bundy has lost in court, including a key case in 2013 in which a U.S. District Court upheld federal claim to the land as dating to the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Of course, the federal government owns 84% of Nevada…

There are two noteworthy things about the contested land. First, radio host Dana Loesch explains that the endangered desert tortoise is “so ‘endangered’ that their population can no longer be contained by the refuge constructed for them so the government is closing it and euthanizing over a thousand tortoises.” Second, Harry Reid sought to bring in a massive solar farm not far from Gold Butte, but still in desert tortoise territory. BLM director Neil Kornze is Reid’s former senior adviser, and one of Reid’s big donors, Harvey Whittemore, was behind the proposed solar development, though he’s currently behind bars for illegal donations to Reid. As Loesch put it, “If only Clive Bundy were a big Reid donor.”

Among other things, this standoff demonstrates how agencies of the federal government have twisted their mission to fit particular political agendas rather than the purpose for which they were instituted. In this case, when one political agenda didn’t work they threw in another one – phony protection for a tortoise. It also confirms the dangers of “militarizing” civilian agencies that should not have paramilitary teams. If BLM has a problem, they can call the Nevada State Police or any number of other agencies that have armed law enforcement teams and authority.

Another point: The Leftmedia is calling the gathered citizens a “militia,” which, of course, they mean in the pejorative sense. Our Founders used the word “militia” to mean “the people,” as is clear in the Second Amendment. And the people succeeded in getting the government to back down – at least for the moment.