This is really pissing me off. Wolves are being slaughtered by the thousands, wild horses continue to be rounded up, yet a Nevada rancher can defy the federal government for twenty years, owe a fortune in fees, graze his cattle on public land that is clearly not his, land he has admitted is not his and get away with it. Of course the right-wing militia was all over this, ready to defend this rancher from the big, bad government, boo-hoo. Wait a minute while I get a hanky and dry my tears.
Wolf advocates have howled to the high heavens for five long years since Obama and his rancher pal, Ken Salazar, delisted wolves in the Northern Rockies in 2009. But we’ve been ignored and demonized. Yet as soon as a rancher hoots and hollers about non-existent grazing rights, the BLM backs down. What magic powers do the ranchers have that we don’t? Armed militias that will huff and puff to get the government’s attention? And while we’re on the subject of attention, thanks MSM (main stream media) for ignoring the wolves’ plight all these years but not failing to cover the hell out of this story. It shows where your priorities lay. If it blusters it leads! Cows over wildlife!
Center For Biological Diversity weighed in on the issue on April 6, believing the BLM would FINALLY enforce the law and remove Bundy’a cattle but as we all know the BLM blinked. Of course they have no trouble ignoring wild horse advocates protesting the ongoing round-ups.
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Environmental groups comment on the Bundy cattle roundup
April 6, 2014
Elko Daily Free Press
“Again and again federal judges have said the BLM has the right and duty to remove cattle trespassing in the Gold Butte area to protect desert tortoises and other imperiled species,” said Rob Mrowka, a Nevada-based senior scientist with the Center for Biological Diversity, which had filed a notice of intent to sue over the lack of action being taken by the federal agencies. “We’re heartened and thankful that the agencies are finally living up to their stewardship duty. The Gold Butte area has been officially designated as critical habitat for threatened tortoises — meaning the area is essential to their long-term survival as a species.”
“Mr. Bundy has long falsely believed that Gold Butte is his ranch,” said Terri Robertson, long-time advocate for protecting the rich cultural and natural resources of Gold Butte and currently president of Friends of Sloan Canyon. “We all know that is not the reality, and it is time for him for obey the law.”
“Mr. Bundy’s defiance of the law and decades-long free grazing on public lands is a poke in the eye of every rancher who rightfully pays for their use of the public lands, and a further thumb of the nose to those responsible, progressive ranchers who graze sustainably, allowing for threatened species to survive on their allotments,” said Karen Boeger, a former BLM advisory committee member.
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ON Kilter: Trespass cattleman not above the law
Written by Dallas Hyland on March 28, 2014
According to the BLM’s press release published by St. George News Thursday: “The BLM and (National Park Service) have made repeated attempts to resolve this matter administratively and judicially. Impoundment of cattle illegally grazing on public lands is an option of last resort.”
The alleged owner of the cattle is Bunkerville, Nev., resident Cliven Bundy. According to a Tuesday report by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, “Bundy has said he doesn’t recognize the federal government’s authority to tell him what to do on land his family has used since 1877 but does not own. He said he will ‘do whatever it takes’ to protect his cattle and his property rights.”
A range war of sorts now ensues.
Bundy admits he does not own the land he lays claim to use of and that he never has owned the land
Note that Bundy admits he does not own the land he lays claim to use of and that he never has owned the land. According to an article in Let’s Talk Nevada: “Beginning twenty years ago in 1993, the BLM has been in dispute with Bundy over his right to graze the Bunkerville allotment of the Gold Butte area. After the BLM terminated Bundy’s grazing permit for Bundy’s failure to pay required grazing fees in 1998, Clark County, as administrator for the Clark County Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan, purchased the grazing rights from the BLM for 375,000 dollars and retired them, in order to fulfill requirements under that plan to protect endangered desert tortoises.”
Ardent supporters of Bundy argue that although people in this country are beholden to federal law, this is an exception because the laws prohibiting some of his practices are not legal ones to begin with.
Were that it was so simple.
My colleague and opinion columnist Bryan Hyde said in a post on Fox News 1450 Facebook:
Cliven has successfully fought the BLM for many years on the grounds that they were breaking their own laws or making up rules as they went. How can a person play ball when his opponent claims the power to change the rules mid-game? I believe the Bundys are better conservationists than most environmentalists.
In doing so, Hyde sounds somewhat like one laying claim to a valid argument; but, pay attention, its made of straw.
what is being waged here is not an environmental war but rather one over simple noncompliance with the law
While it is environmental concerns that laid the foundation for the laws making grazing on the public land in question illegal, what is being waged here is not an environmental war but rather one over simple noncompliance with the law – law that Bundy has been willfully and defiantly violating for decades.
According to a March 11 report in The Mesquite Citizen Journal: “… the BLM is working to comply with two court orders issued by Federal Judges, one in July 2013 and the other in October 2013. Those two orders follow numerous others issued by the courts clear back to 1998.”
The orders were for Bundy to remove his cattle from federal land.
One would be challenged to find any case where this kind of lawbreaking went unfettered for so long.
One would be challenged to find any case where this kind of lawbreaking went unfettered for so long.
What eventually happened was that in response to the blatant disregard for law and seeming protection from local municipalities, the Center for Biological Diversity sued the BLM for not enforcing the court orders. They are now being required under federal mandate to do their jobs. Why to this point the BLM has not done so is open to speculation.
What stands out here locally is the predictable support for Bundy and his defiance of the federal government
What stands out here locally is the predictable support for Bundy and his defiance of the federal government, a prevalent attitude, however misguided, in Utah.
Why misguided you ask?
Hypocrisy.
In 2012, environmental activist Tim DeChristopher was sentenced to federal prison for upending a federal auction of state land to oil industry. DeChristopher posed as a bidder winning thousands of acres and when he was discovered to be a fraud, he was charged and eventually convicted.
It was eventually revealed in the court proceedings that the auction was in fact illegal to begin with, but this did not avert DeChristopher’s culpability.
I wager not one of the ardent defenders of Bundy’s pseudo-patriotic defiance of state defended DeChistopher in what is pound-for-pound the same scenario.DeChristopher broke the law for about an hour. Bundy has been breaking it repeatedly for 20 years
Except … DeChristopher broke the law for about an hour. Bundy has been breaking it repeatedly for 20 years.
When an individual impassioned about a cause, a business, a family tradition, sees the laws impeding them as unjust and takes illegal action to amend it, they are perhaps just in their cause but in the end they learn what all of us must learn: to right injustice in civil society, one must operate within the constructs of the law or suffer the consequences.
DeChristopher did. So will Bundy.
Bundy would do well to grasp that he does not live in the Nevada Territory, he lives in the United States.
See you out there.
http://www.stgeorgeutah.com/news/archive/2014/03/28/kilter-trespass-cattleman-law/#.U0oE8VfimYg
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Emotions run high as BLM closes 600,000 acres for cattle roundup
Posted March 26, 2014 – 11:11am Updated March 27, 2014 – 12:14am
By HENRY BREAN
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Federal authorities will restrict access to almost 600,000 acres of public land for the next seven weeks as they prepare to round up what they call “trespass cattle” in the desert 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas.
The Bureau of Land Management’s temporary closure of the Gold Butte, Mormon Mesa and Bunkerville Flats areas takes effect today and lasts through May 12. During that time, federal officials and contract cowboys plan to impound several hundred cattle left on the range by Bunkerville rancher Cliven Bundy as part of a dispute that is about to come to a head after more than 20 years.
Bundy has said he doesn’t recognize the federal government’s authority to tell him what to do on land his family has used since 1877 but does not own. He said will “do whatever it takes” to protect his cattle and his property rights.
Federal officials have repeatedly ordered him to remove his livestock from a federal grazing allotment he stopped paying the government for in 1993. The BLM officially closed the former Bunkerville allotment to grazing in 1999 out of concern for the federally protected desert tortoise, but Bundy’s cattle remain.
The BLM made a similar move to impound the rogue livestock in 2012, but the operation was hastily canceled the day before it was set to begin in part out of fear of a violent confrontation.
Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie met with Bundy several times as the 2012 roundup was being organized, and he has been in contact with the rancher ever since. He visited the Bundy family at their spread along the Virgin River a few weeks ago, when it became clear that no compromise could be found to stave off federal action.
READ MORE: http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/emotions-run-high-blm-closes-600000-acres-cattle-roundup
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U.S. Agency Backs Down In Standoff With Cattle Rancher
The BLM announced Saturday that it will stop its operation targeting Bundy’s cattle, citing safety concerns. But officials maintain that the rancher still owes more than $1 million in unpaid fees that date back more than 20 years.
“The BLM will continue to work to resolve the matter administratively and judicially,” the agency said in a news release issued today.
The agency’s partial withdrawal comes as a heated debate continues over Bundy’s use of the land – and over the BLM’s decision to take the cattle. The rancher and his family say the government went too far in its efforts; last week, he with the agency over the situation.
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Statement from Director of the Bureau of Land Management Neil Kornze on the Cattle Gather in Nevada
Release Date: 04/12/14
As we have said from the beginning of the gather to remove illegal cattle from federal land consistent with court orders, a safe and peaceful operation is our number one priority. After one week, we have made progress in enforcing two recent court orders to remove the trespass cattle from public lands that belong to all Americans.
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.
We ask that all parties in the area remain peaceful and law-abiding as the Bureau of Land Management and National Park Service work to end the operation in an orderly manner.
Ranching has always been an important part of our nation’s heritage and continues throughout the West on public lands that belong to all Americans. This is a matter of fairness and equity, and we remain disappointed that Cliven Bundy continues to not comply with the same laws that 16,000 public lands ranchers do every year. After 20 years and multiple court orders to remove the trespass cattle, Mr. Bundy owes the American taxpayers in excess of $1 million. The BLM will continue to work to resolve the matter administratively and judicially.
http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/info/newsroom/2014/april/national_office__statement.html
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Pretty weak statement. If wolf or wild horse advocates threatened to start a range war over the killing of wolves and the round-up of wild horses, we’d be put in jail, no questions asked. But when a bunch of bullies threaten the feds, what happens? They back down and issue a BS statement that will have about as much effect on this rancher and his supporters as it’s had for the last twenty years, which is none!! As you can see the BLM statement wasn’t worth the paper it was printed on because they’ve released all four hundred of Bundy’s cows they rounded up!
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Feds release all cows gathered during NV roundup
So a rancher can get away with threatening the federal government to “do whatever it takes” to protect his property? What property is he talking about? The public land he’s been illegally grazing his cattle on for twenty years? The Gold Butte land that’s supposed to be a protected area for threatened tortoises? That land?
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Top Photo: Dicklyon / Wikimedia / CC-BY-SA-2.0
Bottom Photo: Wikimedia
Posted in: Public Land Degradation by Livestock, Biodiversity
Tags: BLM, Gold Butte Area Nevada, illegal cattle grazing, grazing fees owed, BLM backs down, 1993-2014 land dispute, CBD, desert tortoise, federal court orders defied
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You are so right…..beef cattle ranchers know that their entire business is based on sweet grasses and plenty of water….that they have been stealing from US for decades, chasing the wildlife, the wolves and the wild horses off the land…..claiming that these species are ruining the environment…..when they are the real thieves! If you buy young cattle, with the idea of ” growing them ” over a summer into heavy weight steaks on the hoof….every pound gained is profit. If you do not pay a cent for grazing rights to sweet grasses high in nutrients, and good mountain water, you are raising those cattle for free! Time to make these cowboys pay…..honest ranchers own or pay for grazing rights.
>
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Very well said Suzanne, I personally think we need to get cattle off our public lands. Let the ranchers take care of their own cattle. The grazing fees are so low that the government doesn’t really make any money off of it anyway. The cows are the single biggest reason besides the oil and gas industries that wolves are being slaughtered. Wolves should be able to live in peace on public lands owned by the American people but instead there are cows everywhere, polluting streams, stomping on native grasses, releasing methane into the atmosphere. I don’t blame the cows of course, I don’t eat beef but they are huge problem for our native wildlife. If the hunters would wake up they would realize that cows steal forage and grasses from native ungulates as well, like their precious elk.
For the wolves, For the wild ones,
Nabeki
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This matter had nothing to do with tortoise but rather Harry Reid and Obama back room deal with the Chinese in use of the land for solar energy and billions of $$$
And my support is for the Bundys
I give them credit for their determination against an out of control Federal Government
Take a lesson, rather than criticize, and perhaps you will have the same results for animal rights
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hocuspocus13..I am no friend to the BLM but the Bundy’s have no right to graze their cattle on this land. It’s not their land and they’ve stated it’s not their land. The Gold Butte area is public land and he has been grazing his cattle there for free. This has been going on since 1993. Bundy is not a hero to rally around. The only reason the BLM was moved to do anything about this situation is there are two court orders telling him to get his cattle off this public land and he’s refused. Center for Biological Diversity sued because nothing was being done to enforce the court orders and that’s the only reason the BLM acted.
My point is the BLM is rounding up our wild horses with impunity, advocates have protested this for so many years and yet one rancher who owes hundreds of thousands of dollars in grazing fees and has his cattle on land that was designated for the threatened endangered tortoise has people rallying around him like he’s a hero. It’s ridiculous. Would that the wolves and wild horses could get that kind of support.
For the wolves, For the wild ones,
Nabeki
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We are very determined people hocuspocus13, the big problem is we do not have millions of dollars to do whatever we want. Clearly this is not his land. Be responsible for your cattle and pay your bills as everyone else does. Big or small. This is wrong. Suppose we all moved onto land that is not ours, paid no fee and just continued to use the land as we saw fit. I am sure I could find a good reason to become a squatter on a piece of land I find appealing and suites my needs. Hey lets all take a lesson here from this rancher. Just do whatever we want with the land. After all it is public land right?
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I see absolutely no problem with the herd grazing on that land
But perhaps that is due to my true stand point of animal rights
And Bundy Ranch is Grandfathered in to having grazing rights which were in effect for 140 years before there was a BLM
There Victory should have brought to you and your cause a great feeling of future success for the animals you fight for
And once again…gain experience on how to succeed by watching how success is had
And I’m very glad the herd can enjoy freedom to roam and graze where they please and as information has it the tortious diets on cow manure which is high in protein
It’s a WIN for ANIMALS…
And how does the herd grazing endanger the tortious?
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Since the only source I read this piece of news on came from Alex Jones, I’m awaiting a final judgement. Also, there was another story that there have been test wells for fracking done on the land. BLM land is, of course, prime for fracking. In steps KOCH! Well….no matter what, this Bundy owes my government money. He has even swallowed up more land for his cattle, of which he has no estimate of how far they are ranging on the land….nor are they branded or does anyone know the diseases they carry.
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Bundy is Grandfathered in with grazing rights that began 140 years ago when there was no BLM
If you dig a bit deeper, you will find that the BLM has run off many, perhaps all, other Ranchers through intimidation, force and harassment for the apparent reason of greed
There comes a time when it’s enough
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Where is your proof of this? More propaganda from the oil companies? We have been SCREAMING for eons about the BLM corruption and we have been called crazy by the same ranchers now using some of our evidence about corruption. So this rich rancher is more important than our Ameican Icon the horse? How about these same ranchers wanting all our wolves dead? Those public lands are for our wild horses and our other wild life. Simple solution. Get the damn cattle off our public lands. Where were you all when they were doing this to the Native Americans in Arizona? http://warisacrime.org/node/33033 McCain violates human rights of indigenous NATIVE AMERICANS here at home…for coal
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But isn’t that what’s up for discussion
Who has rights?
I don’t believe your enemy is the ranchers but rather the BLM
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Most ranchers are the enemies of the wolf hocuspocus, surely you know that. I’ve been writing about it on this blog for almost five years. Before wolves were delisted and even now when they are hunted in six states, Wildlife Services is still killing wolves for ranchers. Arizona just approved legislation that would allow ranchers to shoot the highly endangered Mexican grays. Ranchers, hunters and politicians are the wolves enemies.
For the wolves, For the wild ones,
Nabeki
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and where did you get your information from – Prison Planet or Info Wars?
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The same place you do
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via Chris Clarke:
“Supporters of the outlaw rancher Cliven Bundy have started to pass around an article I wrote last year on the Scary Chinese Solar Project that Bundy is allegedly being evicted for. Except that that project’s canceled and 180 miles from the land Bundy’s cattle are trampling. Which is equivalent to claiming you’ve been evicted from your apartment in Manhattan so that the landlords can build a new building in Portland, Maine.”
http://www.kcet.org/news/rewire/solar/photovoltaic-pv/nevada-solar-factory-canceled.html
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I’m glad that the information is now out not only for the ranchers that have had quite a battle
And I believe unfairly treated
But for the animals that have been slaughtered at the secretive hands of the BLM
cattle
horses
wolves
etc
And the Feds nuclear war on Nevada
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hocuspocus, I’m no friend of the BLM, they have done awful things, especially to the wild horses but this guy is just mooching off land that’s not his. The whole Chinese solar plant issue is moot because that project was cancelled last summer. I would rally around anyone being treated unfairly but he is not the person. I’m not taking BLM’s side because they had to literally be pushed to take this action. It was only because Center for Biological Diversity sued to have the two federal court orders enforced that the BLM FINALLY took action. Two federal court orders telling Bundy to get his cattle off that land. And yet he threatens a range war, militia come from Montana to support him. Can you even imagine if wolf advocates or any environmental activist threatened federal agents where we’d be? We’d be labeled terrorists and thrown in federal prison for life. But this guy and his followers did threaten “public safety”, those were the BLM words of why they backed down. Now basically it’s anarchy in Nevada because apparently someone who breaks the law and threatens the feds can walk away.
For the wolves, For the wild ones,
Nabeki
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There are around a million Veterans, who are out of work. Why doesn’t the Federal government, in conjunction with animal rights organisations, set up posts along the disputed borders and man them with Veterans, who have the mandate and backing of the Feds, to chase cattle back onto the ranches and at the same time keep the wolves off the public lands.
This would help give the men and women, who have offered their lives in defence of the USA, much needed jobs. The cost could be shared amongst the various departments such as the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service other departments and the Federal Veterans Department.
In time, proper builds could be set-up so that the veterans could have their families with them. They already have training which would help them in carrying out their duties and I am sure that there are a number of Animal welfare departments who could help the Vets so that they eventually are trained park rangers.
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Good idea Allan although I think you meant to say keep wolves on public land.
For the wolves, For the wild ones,
Nabeki
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What can be done, especially for those who live far away? Caryn
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A very good reason NOT to eat beef which I haven’t done personally for years.
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I have often said in this venue that the BLM and the DNR need to go away.
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Syd, the BLM should get the cows off our public land and stop rounding up wild horses. That’s what they should do.
For the wolves, For the wild ones,
Nabeki
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Nabeki,
In my humble opinion, the gummint should get out of the resource business altogether and turn it over to the tribes.
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I have to disagree with comments that propose ways to “keep wolves off public lands.”
The BLM is charged with managing public use for precisely the reasons that Euroamerican ranchers for 150 years invaded the North American West in order to use the land in any possible way for profit.
The BLM should NOT go away, as promoted by another commentor above, whose comment appears to favor the take ALL for personal financial profit.
I am surprised to see such comment here.
When Lewis and Clark crossed the Western prairies, they experienced masses of bison, pronghorn that will not be seen again until the pretension to private property and the immense numbers of humans have ended.
Pronghorn, for instance, in Nevada, suffered from gun-man and fences. Original US population estimates are 35,000,000.
When the US estimate of 13000 in the 1920s caused complete protection, pronghorn in Nevada only went up from a low of about 4200, until mid WWII with 20,000 and since dropped precipitously. Pronghorns are a North American desert animal, handling temperatures from -50 to +130 degrees F.
Ranchers resist the return of these ungulates, as they compete for forage. I’ve spoken with a few NDOW rangers who have busted poachers, who live both in-state and cross states to poach public lands wildlife.
I have also seen the coyotes (who pose no threat to adult cattle) dead and bleeding on the backs of atvs and offroad motorcycles, shot by the children of these immigrants to the Great Basin valleys.
The estimated original bison population of 60,000,000 generally did not live in the Nevada desert, but cattle exploitation of the US West could not occur until these were killed off. They simply ignored fences. Wild ungulates knew no bounds, and so foraged for at most a week or two before moving on to rich new sources with the seasons. In this they differ from the more sedentary domestics which have desertified all the riparian areas and former grasslands of the West. The nutritious native grasses have been replaced through this domestic depredation of the land, by far less digestible species, generally accidentally imported from arid areas of other continents.
The Gray Wolf once lived well in Nevada. If you know the Basin and Range country, you realize that even the arid parts were able to be traversed by the wolf. From the Sierra Nevada to the Scholl Creek and Rubies, the wolf was at home. They are gone now, precisely due to the invasion of the urban-dependent ranching industry. NDOW’s claim that wolves were merely transient there have been found to be insubstantial.
I am quite familiar with Nevada’s basins and mountains, having traveled north and south, east and west, hiked in many of the areas, observing differences among more pristine streams and more grazed. The Shoshones and Paiute In some areas have long taken exception to the extortion of this land by first the miners poisoning it, and the cattle interests that served the miners; but these native americans were less mobile or violently responsive, and so Nevada was taken over and its waters (I think of the Humboldt River and the Ruby Valley and Western NV largely here) diverted or sucked up for irrigation of hay and other agricultural forage products.
Severe overgrazing resulted in the Taylor Grazing Act of 1934. This was intended to stop injury to public lands by preventing overgrazing and soil deterioration; to provide for their orderly use, improvements, and development; and to stabilize the livestock industry dependent upon the public range. The passage of the Taylor Grazing Act heralded the era of government regulated and fenced ranching.
The present rancher’s claim to the public land was that his family has used it for 100 years, which takes us back only to 1914.
I am sure that many or most of you had grandparents who were adult or children at that time, so such claims of “heritage” are specious, delusive, deceitful, intentional lies perpetrated by the Euroamerican invaders-for-profit-at-any-cost-to-the-Earth native species, or indigenous peoples.
I could say more about what the taking of water did to the once-immense numbers of migratory birds, and the ecosystems, but this is quite long. At the very least, you need to look at pictures of overgrazed vs. protected desert lands, which have been available for many decades now.
Ranchers are the people with guns who wish to easily kill any and every wolf, preventing them from maximizing financial profit. They used the government to violently take land from the indigenous, and then want to reduce any governance which could prevent their becoming invading kings. That, people, is “patriotism.”
Explore the ravages, the atrocities, the violent greed, then make your own assessment.
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I am NOT suggesting that it should ALL be used for profit! I am saying that the BLM and the DNR are incapable of managing nature in a rational manner. I am suggesting that the job be given to the tribes who were/have shown to be respectful and able to bring harmony and balance between nature and humans.
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Oh, does anyone remember the BLM use of massive bulldozers with chains attached between, back in the 1960s, that destroyed the beautiful and nutritious (and shade oasis!) Pinyon Forests in order to support these welfare overgrazers?
They didn’t grow back.
A slow turning of BLM toward better preservation has been occurring, but it will take YOUR efforts to continue this change.
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My co-op has Russian pine nuts for $30 a pound. That would have been profitable for the BLM. Cows are being subsidized by the government to occupy the public land. They also ruin the land and water for native animals and pave the way for fracking and other hazardous industries. Lose-lose-lose!
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Up in Sheldon Wildlife Refuge, the removal of grazing and fences a decade and a half ago, seems to have resulted in ecological retun to health.
Pronghorn populations require that coyotes are low in number, and the return of the wolf has been shown elsewhere to benefit pronghorn reproduction. The coyote was once extremely limited in wolf country, but are now populous wherever the wolf has been killed off. This failure led to the failure of natural ecosystems’ recovery wherever the wolf is denied recovery to ecologically effective numbers.
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Republicans have never obeyed the law. Why does anyone think they would start now?
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Don’t forget who was responsible for delisting the wolves – the Democrats wanted Montana’s Democratic seat and gave them what they wanted. Don’t think that it won’t happen again with such things as energy development and fracking. I’d even go so far as to say that blind Democratic supporters are indirectly responsible as well for the wolf delisting and destruction. If we hate ranching so much, we could always quit buying their product? That goes for energy too – but that isn’t going to happen any time soon. It’ll be interesting to see what’s up for grabs this coming election.
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After the role that the cattle ranching industry had in that budget bill rider that made wolves exempt from ESA protection so they can be exterminated while violating my right to challenge the delisting judicially, I have no sympathy for cattle ranchers when they have trouble. They are the enemy in my book.You know what really pisses me off about this whole situation? If we had done something like this to protect wolves, we would be labeled as terrorists and the government would have us taken out! Can anyone say double standard?
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You can’t blame just the cattle industry for delisting wolves. Hunting interests, energy interests, and can we say Democrats? were involved too. This is a land dispute. It’s a trickier landscape to maneuver than just protesters, I think. Wolves are not property in the way that cattle are.
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Yes we can blame the cattle industry! The cattle industry always claims wolves the culprit for killing cattle, even without evidence, in order to claim government reimbursements.
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The cattle industry is definitely to blame, how are wolves going to affect energy interests and not too many hunters eat wolves and if they do they are some sick SOBs. The cattle industry is definitely destroying all in its path along with oil companies.
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Justin…That was exactly my point to Geoff. If this was Earth First of ALF, they’d be put on the FBI most wanted list, added to Green is the New Red list and hunted down. But these people can threaten federal agents and get away with it for “public safety” reasons. What the hell does that even mean? So they thought things were going to get violent? Then arrest these people. Are they exempt from the law? It was a disgusting display. Yet the BLM has no problem harassing and chasing wild horses with their foals, in helicopters until they are so scared and tired or even break a leg. The BLM isn’t scared of wild horse advocates. If wild horse advocates acted the way these people acted they’d be facing federal charges for harassing federal agents. Total double standard and pathetic.
For the wolves, For the wild ones,
Nabeki
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Thanks, Nabeki, for the in-depth postings. I am completely disgusted that the BLM blinked. This is foul. Honestly. So would environmental advocates be hauled off pronto if they wore big hats and belt buckles, packed heat and rode horses? Cussed a bunch and spouted ignorance and told officers to go to China?
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I wonder why this was allowed to go on for so long, and not handled through the courts. Maybe previous Interior secretaries just gave it a wink, wink and let it go? I’m not sure I like (r understand completely) how this all has transpired, but I sure would rather it be a rancher than an oil and gas proposed site. They won’t care about any kind of wildlife. This is where I seem to part company with other environmentalists. They are worried about cattle damage, but oil and gas damage would make cattle damage look like child’s play. And we can forget about wolves, wild horses, sage grouse and tortoises too as well as private property rights and safe drinking water if energy takes over these lands. I find it frustrating that the public and environmentalists are so naïve. So the Harry Reid solar farm isn’t going to be at the Bundy site – how long till one is?
I don’t know why the BLM is handling it this way, and not telling the public what they did with these cattle on ‘our’ lands? Don’t we have a right to know? I’m not sure I mind if this man hasn’t paid his taxes, what with corporations legally evading billions of dollars in taxes this country is owed.
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They say sh*t flows downhill – so if something stinks it’s probably from when Salazar was in office or one of his predecessors who probably set the tone for this laissez-faire land management (at best, and the ignorance-is-bliss voters), and the BLM seems to be only following orders. 😦
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wolves are wonderful animals, they are the grandfather and grandmothers ofour dogs. . They are very social animals and onely hunt and kill the weak and sick animals for living, not like humans do for sport or satisfy.- So stop the cruelty hunt and the abuse killing of wolves NOW
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You’ve answered your own question as to why the cattle rancher, supported by his Teabagger friends, can illegally graze his cattle on federal lands while those who oppose the relentless persecution of wolves on federal and state lands seem to get no respect. The difference is in how determined each side is in furthering its agenda. The Teabaggers wear guns, openly intimidate folks who don’t agree with them, and implicitly, or explicitly, threaten violence. The wolf defenders write impassioned letters-to-the-editor, try to negotiate a better deal for wolves with sport hunters, and commiserate with one another about how “sad” and unjust it all is. It just makes one want to scream at would-be wildlife defenders: “grow some balls” and become as ruthless in defending of wolves as the killers are at exterminating them.
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I think where wildlife defenders go wrong is that they think everyone comes from a place of goodness, honesty and fair-dealings. Sleeping beauties, wake up.
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You are so right there – they need to get some damn balls in order to save what belongs on the land which is definitely not cattle!
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You make such a good point Geoff. But unfortunately there’s a culture clash going on and wolves have become the scapegoats for government hatred. You saw how quick the militia groups were ready jump in and “defend the constitution” and “free speech” when they knew full well this rancher was thumbing his nose at the government by not paying grazing fees and defying court orders. They were willing to huff and puff, threaten and posture..so much so they scared the heck out of the BLM. I guess they thought they’d have another Ruby Ridge or Waco on their hands. OTOH when animal rights activists attempt to do anything like what happened in Nevada they’re arrested and prosecuted. It’s a double standard..these people got away with threatening federal agents. How do you think that would fly if it was the other way around? We all know the answer.
For the wolves, For the wild ones,
Nabeki
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I post about this matter on my time line , but all I got was illuminati, agenda 21, banks and cartels, selling the land to Chinese and bunch, BlM hiring Russian Solders, and of other conspiracy BS. Cliven Bundy, a Nevada rancher who refuses to pay grazing fees for the use of federally protected land, seems to have attitude problem. For some reason he thinks he is above law. after all he is a person responsible for slaughtering animals for profit. So FUCK HIM AND HIS IDEA OF BEING LAW LESS.
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Someone here posted that they got information from Alex Jones. He is probably the craziest extreme right wing conspiracy theorist out there. I I’m also very tired of this argument that it was the Democrats’ fault that wolves were delisted in Idaho and Wyoming in 2011. If the crazy tea partiers, who had just taken power in the House, had not taken the government to the brink of a shutdown and had negotiated a budget in good faith with President Obama and the Democrats, the Democrats would not have felt absolutely compelled to pass that budget and the wolf rider may not have been sneaked in. It was Republicans who tried to delist through congressional action and Tester did jump on the bandwagon to save his seat, but it was the tea party fanatics who forced it. President Obama made a huge mistake by not insisting that the wolf rider be stripped out, but the Democrats were exhausted from getting rid of about 150 riders, some of which gutted the power of the EPA and the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts. The budget deal was struck just a few minutes before there would have been a shutdown and the pressure was enormous to pass it. By the way, I started advocating for removing livestock from public lands 40 years ago.
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OK, but what has the Obama administration done to correct this mistake? Delist the wolves in the remaining 48!!! Poor exhausted Democrats!
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Wow, what a response. I believe our government has let all americans
DOWN!!!!!
In 1980/81 school year I lived in rural Northern Nevada. I was a school
bus driver then. On my route was a herd of wild mustangs. I would see them in a grassy marsh area where they would graze and drink water.They did not destroy any of the land where they grazed. I kept track of them. they would visit the marsh land about every 6 days. I kept track of mares and foals, as horses usually have one stud for how many mares the stud could take care of. I drove past the marsh land 4 times a day. So after all the kids were off the bus I could stop and watch them and keep my records. FAST FORWARD to the 21st century, 2008. I am in Colorado being a wolf activist. I watched a show on PBS,about mustangs in the Northern Rockies. I learned and watched how the BLM idiots, gave mares shots to stop them from going into their estress cycle.(The blm said they were keeping the population from growing) The problem, when the shots wore off the mares would start their estress cycle, resulting in foals being born in the middle of winter, with NO chance of survival. I sobbed as I saw those dead babies. So did the lady doing the report on the horses. I believe, the BLM has never praticed any kind of “good” management for the land or the wild animals that call the us home.
Being no “good” managers I call them land massacurers (SP?)
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It should be as nature intended, if the wolves have to go after cattle for food that is the way it is meant to be and NO man has the right to change that not Government, nor rancher. It is their God given RIGHT as a species for survival.
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We need to stand United NOT divided when it comes to the people vs Big Government, Tyrannical government if there is ever too be any hope for the survival of people or Our wildlife and domestic animals!
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Ranchers are “realistics” they bring big money, that is why are listened to by those who share the same ideas about destroying wildlife to their interest.
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“thanks MSM (main stream media) for ignoring the wolves’ plight all these years but not failing to cover the hell out of this story.” what main stream media sources are covering this story? I can’t find any and am trying to find more credible articles, videos etc. Good article 🙂
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these right-wingers are “terrorists” – but since they own state legislatures, and “bully” everyone else, they are never given that title(they so richly deserve),or effectively challenged by the cowardly media
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OK, I know that this is completely irrelevant to the topic of cattle grazing on public lands and I apologize for that but I just had to tell everyone about this wonderful news: the Arizona governor vetoed the bill that would of allowed ranchers to kill endangered Mexican Gray Wolves! Here is a link to an article about this great news: http://azdailysun.com/news/local/state-and-regional/ariz-bill-allowing-ranchers-to-kill-wolves-also-vetoed/article_05bcadf8-cab5-11e3-ab97-001a4bcf887a.html
And could we of asked for a better day for this good event to happen than on Earth Day?
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