Monday, November 03, 2014

Despite collaborations, federal stewards face threats

by Rocky Barker

Most Westerners acknowledged that their symbiotic relationship with the federal government until the Sagebrush Rebellion grew from the tinders of anti-federalism into a fast-moving range fire in the 1970s.

Since then, the job of managing federal land has become dicey. Just ask Guy Pence.

In 1995, someone mad at his decisions aimed at protecting the Nevada public land of which he was steward bombed him not once but twice. The first bomb exploded outside his office in Carson City, Nev.; the second under a van parked outside his house, shattering glass and burying a couch with debris. Pence, his wife, Linda, and their three daughters were not hurt - at least not physically.

"I couldn't describe for people the mental anguish," Pence said.

The Forest Service moved him to the Boise National Forest, against his will. Soon after that, a bomb threat cleared the Forest Service office in Boise.

Pence is retired now and all of his daughters have followed in his footsteps into pubic lands management.
My experience is that the sharp personal battles between ranchers, loggers and others who use the federal land have subsided. But as this spring's standoff on Cliven Bundy's Nevada ranch illustrated, it hasn't disappeared.

A High Country News report last week examined an issue that is both ideological and personal. The larger, ideological issue is very much alive, as demonstrated in the gubernatorial debate last week when Libertarian candidate John Bujak called again for the state to take over federal lands in Idaho.

Boise State University public policy analyst John Freemuth, a former park ranger, told High Country News that he expected the issue will remain contentious despite movement toward collaboration over federal lands issues.

"There's enough people right now of the persuasion to keep the fight going ... who want to keep this revved up," Freemuth said. "Little successes will help, but I think we're in for it for a while."




Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2014/11/03/3463898/despite-collaborations-federal.html#storylink=cpy

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Guy Pence was and is a thug. I believe the threats against him had nothing to do with the "Sagebrush Rebellion."