Tensions Still High In ‘Nevada Land’ Over Cattle Dispute

Cliven Bundy’s ranch is just a few miles off Interstate 15 in southern Nevada, near the tiny town of Bunkerville. The dirt road that gets you there snakes through a hot and forlorn patch of desert. You know you’ve found it when you see a spray-painted sign for Bundy Melons. “What we say is, we raise cows and melons and kids. That’s what we do here,” says Bundy, smiling as he hoses down a dusty sidewalk that leads into the family’s ranch house. Bundy has 14 children. In his living room, there are prominent photos of all of them. A swamp cooler rattles in one corner. In another, next to his favorite rocking chair, is a copy of the Book of Mormon. Bundy’s ancestors were LDS pioneers, the first white settlers in this part of the country. His family has been raising cattle on the mesas above this house since then. That’s partly why he’s at the center of a grazing lease dispute with the U.S. government — one with implications far beyond southern Nevada. Or at least he sees it that way...Indeed, right now, things are pretty quiet... Back on the highway, just a handful of militia men are still camped at a guard post near the ranch. And it’s pretty much true what Bundy said: The federal government has effectively been driven out. The BLM isn’t staffing anyone here or patrolling the vast public lands due to safety concerns. What you do see are a lot of American flags tied to guardrails. Homemade signs read “BLM Get Out.” There’s even an official-looking blue one in the shape of Nevada that reads, “Welcome to Nevada Land.” “I’m assuming that whoever put that sign up believes that the land in Clark County, Nevada, should belong to the people of Clark County, Nevada,” says fellow rancher Dwayne Magoon. Around Bunkerville, you’ll find folks like him, who didn’t take part in the armed standoff but are sympathetic to Bundy’s cause. Tensions here have been simmering for decades. More than 80 percent of Nevada is federal land. Ranchers here feel like the BLM has been steadily trying to force them out of business due to tighter environmental restrictions on grazing and other uses of the land. In fact, according to Magoon, Bundy is the last remaining full-time rancher in Clark County. “This particular issue was about a rancher who wouldn’t give up and pick his marbles up and go home,” Magoon says. “He left his marbles scattered out and said, ‘Come play by the rules,’ and our federal government is not used to that.” Magoon is sure that the federal government is coming back, and he’s worried about another confrontation...For now, one gets the sense that both sides are waiting for the other to blink. Back at the Bundy property, the rancher sees the battle as symbolic of a lot more than just a few cows. Asked what’s at stake, he says, “What’s at stake here? Freedom and liberty and statehood, that’s what’s at stake here.” If the federal government comes back, Bundy promises his militia supporters will also return in force...more