BLM, National Park Service close public lands due to trespassing cattle dispute

[IntrepidXJ]

Looks like part of the Gold Butte region is going to closed for a little while. Just in case anyone has plans to visit the area soon...

http://www.stgeorgeutah.com/news/ar...blic-lands-due-to-trespassing-cattle-dispute/

LAS VEGAS – Public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management in northeastern portions of Clark County, Nev., within the Gold Butte, Mormon Mesa, Bunkerville Flats areas, will be subject to temporary closures beginning March 27.

The BLM Southern Nevada District Office and the National Park Service’s Lake Mead National Recreation Area are taking steps to resolve a longstanding cattle trespass on federal lands. As cattle that are in trespass are removed, specific geographic areas within the overall closure boundary will be temporarily closed as necessary for the safety of the public, federal employees and contractor personnel. Areas temporarily closed to public access will be posted with signs and a temporary closure notice. Some areas may also be temporarily fenced off to members of the public.

Details of closures within BLM-managed lands are available in a Notice of Temporary Closure on Public Land that will publish March 27. At Lake Mead National Recreation Area, closures will be announced, as they are needed, through future news releases.

For more than two decades, cattle have been grazed illegally on public lands in northeast Clark County, Nev. The BLM and NPS 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 BLM and NPS are working closely with local, state and federal officials to ensure the gather of unauthorized cattle occurs in a safe and orderly manner.

Submitted by the Bureau of Land Management, Southern Nevada

Here's a map the BLM is updating with the closures: http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/media...7.File.dat/032814cattletrespassclosuremap.pdf

 

[Bob]

Hah.......what a excuse to block off that much land...... conspiracy I tell you...........

 

[Yvonne]

glad I went last month. It's getting too hot soon anyway and as long as they open the area later this year again I'm okay with it.
Cattle issues somehow is a lame excuse. They are there as long as I can remember visiting the area and this is at least for the last 8 years.

 

[Seldom Seen Anderson]

^ I sometimes forget yall arent locals! This is a huge news story that has blown up in most of the local newspapers. A rancher has been in a dispute with the BLM for 20 some odd years. He lost his lease (well stopped paying in protest to him being told to cut his herd considerably for tortoise) and the BLM has been "trying" to get him to remove his cattle from this chunk of land. Over 20 years the cattle have spread pretty much everywhere. Finally a local environmental group sued the BLM because he still has cattle on the land (I guess they purchased the lease after he lost it?) and the BLM is now being forced to roundup the cattle. Well to make a long story short the rancher is pulling the "from my cold dead hands" card and range war and threats against anyone who "rustles" his cattle. I believe the closures are in part because of this... Here area couple links

-http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/emotions-run-high-blm-closes-600000-acres-cattle-roundup
-http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/nevada/bunkerville-rancher-vows-resist-federal-roundup-his-cattle
-http://www.thespectrum.com/article/20140313/NEWS01/303130052/Bunkerville-rancher-ready-new-BLM-fight
-http://www.stgeorgeutah.com/news/archive/2014/03/28/kilter-trespass-cattleman-law/#.Uzsma6hdWSo

 

[slc_dan]

Woah, crazy story.

I get that the rancher wants to keep the area he's raised cattle on for so long, but he doesn't even own the land. If you don't own the land, you don't get to fight it.