By Thomas Mitchell
Officials of the Bureau of Land Management insist Bunkerville cattle rancher Cliven Bundy “owes the American taxpayers in excess of $1 million” in unpaid grazing fees for the past two decades.
That was why they closed off 600,000 acres of federal public land and started confiscating Bundy’s cattle. But when armed protesters showed up this past weekend, the Director of the BLM Neil Kornze — a former aide to Sen. Harry Reid and a former Elko resident who was named to head up the agency this past week — abruptly called a halt to the roundup.
Based on information about conditions on the ground, and in consultation with law enforcement,” Kornze said in a statement, “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.”
He called the confiscation “a matter of fairness and equity.”
At one time there were 52 cattle ranchers in Clark County. Largely as a result of BLM fairness and equity, Cliven Bundy, whose family has run cattle in the area since long before there was a BLM, is the last of the breed.
According to Bundy’s daughter, Shiree Bundy Cox, her great-grandfather bought the rights to the Bunkerville allotment around 1887 and sold them to her grandfather who turned them over to her father in 1972. The family paid for water improvements, fences and roads out of their own pockets.
Then the BLM started charging fees to manage the federal land. “They were supposed to assist the ranchers in the management of their ranges while the ranchers paid a yearly allotment which was to be used to pay the BLM wages and to help with repairs and improvements of the ranches. My dad did pay his grazing fees for years to the BLM until they were no longer using his fees to help him and to improve,” Cox writes online.
Twenty years ago the BLM went to Bundy and told him he could not graze in the spring. This was supposed to prevent his cows from stomping on endangered desert tortoises.
But range biologist Vernon Bostic wrote in “Ecology of the Desert Tortoise in Relation to Cattle Grazing” that the greatest death loss of desert tortoises during the drought of 1981 occurred in an allotment where cattle had been excluded. In an adjoining allotment where cattle grazed all year long, the tortoises were relatively unaffected by the severe drought. “The reason is simple: Cows provide tortoises with both food and drink,” wrote Bostic.
The BLM has not made any statement as to whether the desert tortoise population has changed one way or the other on the land in question.
When Bundy was told he could not graze in the spring, he also was told to remove all his water tanks and the lines that fed them from local springs. Never mind that water rights are granted by the state and the federal government is not allowed to interfere with those rights, as several federal court cases have upheld.
Bundy explained to the BLM that he had no feed lot in which to hold cattle and his only option would be to sell his cattle for slaughter in February and buy new stock to put out to pasture in July. But from July to February desert range cattle actually lose weight.
According to recent news accounts, federal agents brought in backhoes and dug up Bundy’s water pipes. Will the federal government reimburse him for his lost water rights, his generations-old grazing rights and his cattle? The Fifth Amendment of the Constitution requires governments to reimburse property owners at a fair value when property is taken by force.
Even though Bundy is in the headlines, the same thing is happening quietly all over the state.
J.J. Goicoechea — veterinarian, rancher, chairman of Eureka County Commission and past president of the Nevada Cattlemen’s Association — says Nevada has lost half of its breeding cows over the past three years because of BLM regulations — approaching 300,000 head, down from more than a million in the 1980s.
One reason listed by BLM for the cattle roundup was so it could save tortoises in the Gold Butte area, since it plans to kill off tortoises by putting up solar panels at nearby Dry Lake Solar Energy Zone.
Bundy, 67, is the last rancher standing in Clark County. It is questionable, in the face of BLM mismanagement, how long he and other cattlemen can survive.
Which is the endangered species? Tortoises? Or cowboys?
Thomas Mitchell is a longtime Nevada newspaper columnist. You may share your views with him by emailing thomasmnv@yahoo.com. Read additional musings on his blog at http://4thst8.wordpress.com/.
Harry Reid’s crew of land confisticators showed up with a army of 200 armed people,that was the only reason the protesters showed up with their own arms. In America that is self defense and the defense of others.
The media fails to mention the fact that the BLM paid in excess of $1 million to the round-up contractor from Utah. Not to mention the cost of the salaries for those 200 armed ” enforcers’ ,nor the cost for fuel and vehicles to haul those people around.
By ripping out water lines and troughs the BLM actually destroyed a water source for the Turtle. Not to forget the fact that running vehicles and heavy equipment around crushed any turtles
that might have been in the area at the time.
The M in BLM stands for management, they do not own that land,neither does the Federal Government, That land is owned by the people of the United States of America ! No Exceptions !
To put it plainly, Although I live in Another state ,I have as much claim to that land as any other American. The Nevada Senator does not have my authorization to sell or lease any of the Public Lands to China nor any other foreign power !
During this Harry Reid organized attempted land grab , his crew of “Goons” not only damaged the environment, but they should be arrested for the harassment and death to animals.
As anyone who was born in America out side of a big city would know,if you run a horse -a cow or a sheep long enough with motorcycles and helicopters t will cause them to ” Break – their wind ” which if not right away will soon cause a death by lack of being able to breathe.
But then The BLM with it’s Communistic Democrat Party authorization has been doing that to the wild horses for years. It is time to fire the BLM and for the land owners ( The American people) to
find and hire a new management team.
Many people today are not aware of the fact that during the 1950s and early 1960s ,it was not unusual for a cowboy to go ( With BLM approval) round-up and capture wild horses.Those that could be trained to use ,were, if they were bucking horses they were sold as such, the remainder since not every horse is trigger or black-beauty, some are just plain not good for anything. those were sold to slaughter houses.Where every part of that animal was used for something,nothing went to waste.
Then the BLM smelled money, so they got it made so it was against the law to go capture and use any wild horses. Without “culling” the herd , soon the wild horse population started to grow and some of the Large Corporation owned ranchers started complaining to their political pals ( Like Harry Reid) and others . So those people told the BLM to start rounding up the wild horses, and to cut the herd size down so their corporate owned rancher pals would have free use of the land. and to
try to make themselves look better , the BLM instilled a adoption program for wild horses.
Since this deal came into play, they have always used helicopters ,motorcycles, airplanes ,dogs, and pickups to run those horse until they drop . If the animal cannot get up then the BLM simply shoots it or just leaves it to die a painful death.
The adoption program is so full of government rules that anyone who reads the rules first will not adopt one of those wild horses. As i mentioned before , not every horse is a usable animal, and if you adopted it you have to keep that animal for life.
Once those wild horses are run almost to death by the BLM, they are put into pens at many locations around the country to await adoption. The BLM then gets some contractor to provide feed and water for these animals until they get adopted. Well most do not get adopted .And a lot of those who are getting paid by the BLM via American Tax dollars to feed and water those animals do not care for them , many end up dying in those holding facilities from lack of water or starve to death due to the contractor failing to feed them the rations they need. The BLM simply forgets them , there is no BLM personal checking to be certain those animals are cared for correctly.
But it seems ,the animal rights people, the Humane Society and the law enforcement agencies simply ignore mis-treatment of animals if it is the government doing it.
Yet they certainly do not hesitate to promote the release of Bison onto private property, nor the practice of stopping construction, mining, or water-control projects, that are much needed and might provide jobs and tax base for the people of America.
America is in bad shape at present, We have a big money PLACED into office president ,who
to date has never showed proof of his even being an American . We have Senators and members of Congress of both parties that are far more intent on assisting in the destruction of America than they are of doing the job they were elected and are being paid to do. This is why to date , Although mining is going strong in several states, Not One company doing the mining is an American Firm.
The same goes for oil. The Oil Sands Projects in Canada is mostly owned by China and Saudi Arabian Oil. The Port Arthur Texas facility has been revamped and is more of a exporting load out than it is a import offload facility. The politicians have Used the Keystone Pipeline as a political tool
for years. And it too will be financed by those foreign firms already mentioned.
In no way should our own oil from the Bakken and other oil fields ever be allowed to enter that pipeline ( once it is built). Once that oil is in that pipeline it is heading for export, if we are permitted to buy any of it it will be at OPEC set prices. Does it make sense to agree to pay Opec prices for our own countries oil ?
Since 2009 America has been a world leader in the exportation of oil . that is fact. Even though Americans are being charged un-heard of prices for all oil products at this time, we are still exporting. for some reason people that makes no sense ! this administration is exporting American oil reserves which could come in handy to have since our who;e defense system runs on oil.
It is time for the American People to wake up and strive to clean up the crooks and “scum” that our present leadership seems to be full of. If we do not act (due to staring into our smart phones) and not having time to look at the big picture, we will soon be a people without a country.
Time to clean out the rats nest ! Did you hear that Harry?
I agree with the article above. My question is ,why did the government wait 21 years to round up the cattle? Seems that there must have been some legal reason. The IRS does not wait 21 years to round up a non tax paying citizen in the wrong.MY other question is how do cattle endanger tortosis. I have never seen a cow eat a turtle nor have I ever heard of cows going out to roll turtles on their backs and leave them to suffer. This section of land is some ofthe most desolate in the US and anyone that can eek out a living on it should be appluaded for making a contribution to the country by paying his taxes. Whatever happened to the grandfather cluase.
one of the best factual articles written i have seen about this.
It does seem that all federal agencies, whether the BLM, the IRS, the EPA, or any of the other alphabet soups, now exist to oppress American citizens and further the careers and fortunes of the politicians who direct them. It is past time for this to stop.
Senator Reid, by his vicious and slanderous words, seems to be attempting to provoke a range war on the land that he and his son, Rory, wish to control. How curious that he is so very concerned with one American citizen who refuses to bend to his will. How dangerous and evil he has become.
As an American citizen and thus part-owner of that Nevada land, I vote to let Mr. Bundy continue to graze his cattle on my land. I suspect that a majority of the other citizens/part-owners of that land would do the same.
Almost right all of you, Clivens family has been using that desert grass land since 1877. He has said several times that he would pay NEVADA, Clark county anything owed but not uncle sam. The U.S. does not own that land, Nevada does and our Governor blew an oportunity to tell the U.S.Gov to shove it and Harry too
What you said made a bunch of sense. However, think
on this, suppose you were to create a awesome headline?
I ain’t saying your content isn’t solid., but what if you added a
headline that grabbed people’s attention? I mean Bundy wants ‘equity,’ BLM wants money – The Ely Times is kinda vanilla.
You might peek at Yahoo’s front page and watch how they write post titles
to grab viewers to click. You might try adding a video or a related picture or two to
grab readers excited about what you’ve got to say.
In my opinion, it might make your website a little bit more interesting.