Nevada range fight revives ‘Sagebrush Rebellion’
The federal Bureau of Land Management returned a Nevada rancher’s cattle, avoiding a potentially dangerous confrontation. But the legal fight over grazing fees continues.
By Brad Knickerbocker, Staff writer / April 13, 2014
In the end, federal land managers backed down, giving rancher Cliven Bundy his 400 head of cattle. The cows, which had been rounded up on public land where Mr. Bundy’s herd had grazed for years, represented a classic clash of values: Old West traditions and practices versus New West environmental sensibilities.
In Bundy’s case, the story goes back to the 1870s, when his Mormon pioneer ancestors first began ranching on public land, which eventually came under the domain of the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Bundy claims the land is his, although he does not have legal title to it.
Many ranchers in the rural West run their cattle on federal land, paying regular grazing fees that are based on cow-calf pairs. Such ranches range from small, family-based part time operations to large corporations based in Los Angeles and elsewhere. Bundy had refused to pay the fee, which led to the attempt to seize his cattle.
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2014/0413/Nevada-range-fight-revives-Sagebrush-Rebellion
