Nevada ranchers stage horseback rally against federal land policy

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Reuters

Nevada ranchers stage horseback rally against federal land policy
Source: Reuters - Sat, 31 May 2014 01:55 AM

By Jennifer Dobner

May 30 (Reuters) - About 70 cattlemen and ranchers, half on horseback, rallied at the steps of Nevada's state Capitol on Friday to protest against federal control of grazing lands, complaining of cuts made in the number of cattle allowed to graze this year.

The ranchers want Republican Governor Brian Sandoval's help in ousting a regional Bureau of Land Management official whose office in northern Nevada has reduced by 20 percent the number of cattle allowed to graze over the next 12 months in the Battle Mountain region east of Carson City, citing lingering drought.

The protest, following a five-day 320-mile (515-km) ride across northern Nevada rangelands led by a county commissioner disgruntled with the BLM, comes amid growing grumbling about federal control of public lands in the U.S. West.

"Across the board I would like to see the land transferred to the state of Nevada," said Elko County Commissioner Grant Gerber, whose family began ranching in eastern Nevada in the mid-1800s. "Then people closer to the issue could make the decisions."


Read more: http://www.trust.org/item/20140531015408-oazme/

[msongs]

1. welfare cowboys want all the benefits for less without any of the responsibility nt

[SoapBox]

6. +100

[bitchkitty]

38. LOL - welfare cowboys.

Best description for these yahoos yet.

[onehandle]

2. Takers Unite! nt

[Submariner]

3. Moocher ranchers don't understand that feed doesn't grow too well

during drought so to save some prairie grasses, the free-ride moochers need to cut back on the free grass they want for their moo moos.

[pnwmom]

13. They pay grazing fees. Why do you call them moochers?

[LeftyMom]

23. They rent federal land at less than it costs the feds to run the program.

Their operations are subsidized.

[Psephos]

28. US govt owns 80% of Nevada, and doesn't pay taxes. So who's the moocher? n/t

[LeftyMom]

29. Who would the US gov't pay taxes to? Itself?

Nevada is mostly comically empty desert. The idea that the state could do more with that land than the feds do is silly, the limiting factor is the absence of water supplies. Which is the whole point of the conflict mentioned in the OP.

[Psephos]

30. Local governments. State, county, municipal. That really wasn't very hard.

I find it interesting that you think bureaucrats in a D.C. building "can do more with that land" than the people who live there. Or that they should.

We are a republic, not a monarchy. Local government is the bedrock of the country. But not if it doesn't have any tax revenue.

[LeftyMom]

31. Nevada has plenty of tax revenue, because gambling. NV also has a tiny population. Most of the state

is EMPTY.

What would NV do differently with all that empty high desert than the feds? There's probably a pretty good argument to be made that too much of it is farmed and ranched already.

What is the state going to do, eliminate the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada?

edit: That's not how taxes work anyhow, genius.

[Psephos]

32. Insulting me is a convo ender.

I'm here to exchange points of view and opinions, with the goal of improving my own and sometimes those of others.

Most of Texas and North Dakota and Colorado and for that matter, almost all the states, is also empty, depending on definition of the word. But only in Nevada does the US government have the balls to say it knows better than Nevadans what to do with almost all of Nevada, AFTER nuking the fsck out of it for decades.

BTW, local governments in Nevada do not get a share of casino money sent to them.

[LeftyMom]

33. Huge swaths of the west are under federal control. NV isn't special.

Essentially the entire population of NV lives in the LV area and Reno. The combined population of the rest of the state is a rounding error. I had family in Eureka County (until they passed away) and there's a reason they had to drive an hour to go to the closest grocery store: there simply wasn't the population to support one. Other western states also have huge empty sections for the same reasons: dry, inhospitable land that isn't worth farming. Even California's northern reaches near the Oregon border are barely populated, and they're not nearly as dry as Nevada's high desert.

Again, what do you think local control would do differently? Keeping in mind that the rest of the state has almost no water and barely any people.

[tabasco]

42. LOL! How many legal actions have been initiated by these local governments to acquire that land

from those stupid, big, bad fedrul gubmint bureaucrats?

Or are those local governments extremely happy to receive PILT payments for millions of acres of wasteland?

I wish they would give that land back to those oh-so wise local governments. I don't see why my tax dollars should subsidize shitheads like these ranchers and their towns - that would be ghost towns without the evil federal government.

[Psephos]

45. lol You mean the federal government that exploded more than 200 atomic bombs in Nevada?

Demonstrating the true meaning of the word "land stewardship," right?

[Cerridwen]

44. That is not correct.

For every dollar Nevadans pay in federal taxes, we receive 65 cents back in services. We're not a very politically powerful state and we've had a few too many ignoramuses (and their enablers) "running" the state over the years.

Essentially, we pay more in federal monies than all but one other state in the union.

Any federal facilities in the state of NV pay property taxes, sales taxes, etc., just like any other entity.

They are also subject to the state and local laws within which their facilities and employees are located.

Then, of course, there are payroll taxes and unemployment insurance.

There may be more examples; this is just a quick list "off the top of my head."

As to your assertion that 80% of the state is "owned" by the US government, not quite true either. We have several military installations in the state of NV in addition to national parks and recreation areas, and so on. The raw land that the US government still retains patents on is mostly uninhabitable and/or was not viable for use as farm, ranch, or other agricultural uses at the time of Nevada's admittance to the union.

There is a lot of "federal land" in NV; the percentages change relatively frequently.

[TheCowsCameHome]

4. Well, *uck them and the horses they rode in on.

Welfare cowboys.

[TheCowsCameHome]

4. Duplicate, but it's worth saying again.

Welfare cowboys.

[blkmusclmachine]

9. HAHA!

[kelliekat44]

37. LOL!! nt

[2naSalit]

7. ...

K&R for the comments above!!!

[pugetres]

8. They didn't bring in

armed "militia", they aren't operating vehicles illegally in protected land, they have a petition drive...

I can't say that I agree with what they want. But, they have complaints and they are trying to have their grievances addressed in a legal manner. Isn't that the way it should work?

[Lasher]

14. Yes, and they have a right to say what they want.

But they do not have a right to say it with impunity from criticism.

[pugetres]

16. That is very true.

I just don't enjoy seeing the broad stroke.

[Lasher]

22. Then you probably won't be happy at this website.

Stereotypes abound.

[jwirr]

10. I'm sorry but do these idiots know there is a drought in their area? The numeber of cattle that can

graze an acre is dependent on weather conditions. If they do not follow the well established guidelines the destroy the land. By well established I mean farmers have been using these guidelines for centuries. I have lived in farm country all of my life (Iowa, Nebraska and Minnesota) and they are used here. Even Las Vegas knows there is a shortage of water.

[freshwest]

12. Over grazed land can take *forever* to recover under desert conditions. These guys are grifters.

[DonCoquixote]

11. Ok cowboys

If it was not for feds killing the locals, that land would never have been yours. It would be tempting to see what would happen if you were cast adrift: hint, Mexico would eat you like a loaf of bread.

[LarryNM]

15. Sure They Want the States to Takeover

With fewer of those "bad" government regulations the Land can be properly developed aka ruined
all to get more $$$ for themselves and their Pimps the Kochs.

[pugetres]

17. They should be careful what they wish for.

I think that Nevada charges close to $15 per head of cattle to graze on state-controlled land. The fed was charging what?--36 cents per head?

[Squinch]

18. They crave attention like 2-year-olds. Next they'll don fetching sequin numbers and do a kick line.

[olddad56]

34. or having a temper tantrum

oh, I guess they already are.

[Squinch]

35. Yep.

[mopinko]

19. poachers. they are no better than poachers.

they will leave rotting corpses of native species and not care.

[2pooped2pop]

20. Is this really the ranchers and land owners or just the Bundy Bullshit Bravadeers? n/t

[2pooped2pop]

21. ahh, I see they have picked up the Koch bros repub talking points

"Across the board I would like to see the land transferred to the state of Nevada," said Elko County Commissioner Grant Gerber, whose family began ranching in eastern Nevada in the mid-1800s. "Then people closer to the issue could make the decisions."

[bearssoapbox]

24. Give them a home

I know it's from the bundy debacle but it still seems appropriate.

[heaven05]

25. same BLM land policy was in place

Last edited Sun Jun 1, 2014, 08:25 AM - Edit history (1)

when raygun was in office, bush sr, clinton and bush disaster. Where were all these 'fucking 'cowboys' then screaming about BLM land policy. How much more obvious can these people be? This country is in the toilet just waiting for a flush and these are the turds that need to be flushed, first. There is something deeply troubling about the white reaction to a AA POTUS. Deeply troubling. Just went crazy.

[NobodyHere]

26. Honest question

Why shouldn't the land be ran by the state of Nevada instead of the feds?

[dbackjon]

36. Because it is Federal Lamds

Belongs to all of us

[NobodyHere]

39. It doesn't really seem fair to me

Why does people from a state like Rhode Island own 84% of Nevada but people from Nevada only own .4% of Rhode Island? Is there any reason why the majority of land in Nevada can't be owned by Nevada?

[tabasco]

43. Why should people in Rhode Island subsidze local governments in Nevada?

Great question!

http://www.reid.senate.gov/press_releases/reid-nevada-receiving-pilt-payments-today#.U4tToiiorq4

Tell me about all the legal actions that have been filed by the poor, oppressed people of Nevada to acquire that land from the big, evil fedrul gubmint? Or maybe the people of Nevada are happy getting those dollars from Rhode Island and the other 48 states to subsidize what would likely be GHOST TOWNS without federal money coming in.

[JeaneRaye]

27. Public Lands

These ranchers have been destroying federal lands for many years now. They graze their cattle for $1.35 per animal per month on public lands. I live in Nevada and I know that there is not much to graze on out there in the desert and the mountain ranges that make up this state. The cattle congregate near streams, and consequently, pollute them and cause massive erosion on the stream banks. They also strip the trees of their leaves. I hike in Nevada and California. Although, the ranchers who are making the most noise are from eastern and southern Nevada, the damage is the same. There are hiking trails that I have hiked for over 25 years now. One of those areas, was heavily grazed back in the late '80's and early 90's. The trail went through a big valley before entering into trees. That valley was destroyed by the cattle back then. Last summer I hiked that trail again and the valley had healed. It was totally covered with wildflowers and grass. It's taken 20 years for that valley to look this good again. Another area that I recently hiked still had cattle grazing on it. The cattle had trampled the vegetation around where they stood and the area just generally was torn up. Mr Cliven Bundy claims to be providing a service to people since he is raising cattle that later becomes steaks on people's plates. Well, Mr Bundy... not on my plate since I don't eat meat. It is just as much my land as it is your land however and I prefer my hiking trails not to be trampled by your cattle.

[sybylla]

40. Sell the cattle and get over it.

Every where else, farmers who can't feed their cattle thanks to a drought have no choice but to sell them.

These assholes need to understand the difference between what's theirs and what's not.

[hollowdweller]

41. I used to hunt on this land

For nearly all of my childhood and early adult hood.

It was owned by Westvaco a big timber and paper company.

Every year my dad and all our buddies would go out there and camp the whole first week of buck season and hunt and laugh and enjoy roughing it.

Then when I was 27 they clear cut the whole place.

So then they decided that they were going to gate off the whole place and lease it to us as a hunting club. At this point I had bought 85 acres and just started hunting out my back door, but a lot of our buddies got in on it. Previously anybody who wanted to hunt there could.

Well later on they decided they would just not let anybody on it and gated off guys that had been going there to hunt 30,35 years.

If it got turned over to the state and they got into a big budget crunch they'd sell it off to some extractive company and they would fence those guys out so fast their heads would spin. Of course since that would be free market not gov't that would be OK right??

[Arugula Latte]

46. Hey, Mitt! We found some of your "takers"!

Too bad they're mostly white, male, conservative and Christian, though, huh?