U.S. sues Southern Nevada rancher in grazing dispute

The federal government on Monday filed a trespassing lawsuit against a Southern Nevada rancher who for years has been fighting orders that he remove his cattle from public land. A lawsuit was filed in federal court in Las Vegas by the U.S. Justice Department, Environmental and Natural Resources Division, against Cliven Bundy of Bunkerville, a town near Mesquite. The suit seeks a court order blocking Bundy's "unauthorized and unlawful grazing of livestock'' on land administered by the Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service. Despite a court order dating to 1998 requiring Bundy to remove cattle from federal land near Bunkerville, the government contends he has failed to do so and his cattle are now trespassing in a broad territory including the Gold Butte area and lands administered by the Park Service as part of Lake Mead National Recreation Area...more