Letter: Rancher expert in range management

"Rancher fights government" reads the front page headline of a Nevada newspaper. There follows an account of Ruby Valley rancher Cliff Gardner's six-year fight with the forest service over Gardner's right to graze the ranch that has been in the Gardner family for 128 years.

The U.S. Forest Service, which didn't exist when Gardner's ancestors settled the ranch, claimed the right to keep Gardner's cows from eating the grass. No condemnation of Gardner's property rights for public purposes was ever engaged in by the bureaucrats, nor any compensation paid for his property rights.

The Nevada Legislature in Chapter 321 of the Nevada Revised Statutes, adopted and confirmed the constitutional right of the state to the land within its boundaries. Nevada's control of its own land recognizes and protects the rights of all its citizens to that land or any property right associated with it.

Federal control of Nevada's lands seeks to override both Nevada's sovereign right to control her land and the private property rights that have been acquired to any land within Nevada's boundaries.

Gardner has received awards for his expertise in developing and managing range land. In 1997 he compiled a series of articles and affidavits ("Cliff's Book") which showed:

A. "The forest service has a deliberate agenda to destroy the viability of cattle ranching on the forest reserve lands under their administration."

B. This policy resulted in cutting the forage produced on the range lands in half and increased damage from spring discharge and wildfires.

C. Over $520,000,000 of damage to the Nevada economy was produced by these policies and the increase of the size and intensity of the range fires has now produced two of the most destructive fire seasons in the history of the range.

To reduce the fire hazard to his ranch and the range lands, Gardner let his cows eat the grass on his ranch. The forest service claimed Gardner was "trespassing" on his own range and sought to fine him and impound his cattle.

The forest service now seeks to imprison Gardner for exercising his rights and protecting the range resource. Gardner's motion in the proceedings to determine whether he would have Sixth Amendment and other constitutional rights was denied by the federal judge.

Ranchers, sheriffs and other public officials in Utah have been threatened by the feds with fines, imprisonment and confiscation of property for similar acts. Investigations of the charges by the FBI have apparently turned up nothing.

But there is one element missing in this outrageous scenario. In the 20 years since Nevada put into statutory form its rights to its public lands, little has been done to provide a means to enforce those rights. In other words, the federal usurpers have continued to bully and harass Nevada citizens in the exercise of their property rights, but Nevada's citizens and local officials lack a means to enforce Nevada's rights against the usurpers.

The Nevada legislature can supply the missing element in the upcoming session of the legislature. Whether it is defending our rights to race, to hunt, fish or rock hound on the public lands or preventing our public lands from becoming a nuclear waste dump, Nevada's position, and her citizens' rights, will both be strengthened by enforcing the Nevada Public Lands Ownership Act of 1979.

IKE YOCHUM

Carson City