"There have been a lot of people criticizing Clive
Bundy because he did not pay his grazing fees for 20 years. The public
is also probably wondering why so many other cowboys are supporting Mr.
Bundy even though they paid their fees and Clive did not.
"What
you people probably do not realize is that on every rancher's grazing
permit it says the following: "You are authorized to make grazing use of
the lands, under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management and
covered by this grazing permit, upon your acceptance of the terms and
conditions of this grazing permit and payment of grazing fees when due."
"The "mandatory" terms and conditions go
on to list the allotment, the number and kind of livestock to be grazed,
when the permit begins and ends, the number of active or suspended AUMs
(animal units per month), etc.
"The terms
and conditions also list specific requirements such as where salt or
mineral supplements can be located, maximum allowable use of forage
levels (40% of annual growth), etc., and include a lot more stringent
policies that must be adhered to. Every rancher must sign this
"contract" agreeing to abide by the TERMS AND CONDITIONS before he or
she can make payment.
"In the early 90s,
the BLM went on a frenzy and drastically cut almost every rancher's
permit because of this desert tortoise issue, even though all of us
ranchers knew that cow and desert tortoise had co-existed for a hundred+
years. As an example, a family friend had his permit cut by 90%. For
those of you who are non ranchers, that would be equated to getting your
paycheck cut 90%.
"In 1976 there were
approximately 52 ranching permittees in this area of Nevada. Presently,
there are 3. Most of these people lost their livelihoods because of the
actions of the BLM.
"Clive Bundy was one
of these people who received extremely unfair and unreasonable TERMS AND
CONDITIONS. Keep in mind that Mr. Bundy was required to sign this
contract before he was allowed to pay. Had Clive signed on the dotted
line, he would have, in essence, signed his very livelihood away. And so
Mr. Bundy took a stand, not only for himself, but for all of us. He
refused to be destroyed by a tyrannical federal entity and to have his
American liberties and freedoms taken away.
"Also
keep in mind that all ranchers financially paid dearly for the forage
rights those permits allow -- not rights to the land, but rights to use
the forage that grows on that land. Many of these AUMS are water based,
meaning that the rancher also has a vested right (state owned, not
federal) to the waters that adjoin the lands and allow the livestock to
drink.
"These water rights were also
purchased at a great price. If a rancher cannot show beneficial use of
the water (he must have the appropriate number of livestock that drinks
and uses that water), then he loses that water right. Usually water
rights and forage rights go hand in hand. Contrary to what the BLM is
telling you, they NEVER compensate a rancher for the AUMs they take
away.
"Most times, they tell ranchers that
their AUMS are "suspended," but not removed. Unfortunately, my family
has thousands of "suspended" AUMs that will probably never be returned.
"And
so, even though these ranchers throughout the course of 100 years
invested thousands (and perhaps millions) of dollars and sacrificed
along the way to obtain these rights through purchase from others, at a
whim the government can take everything away with the stroke of a pen.
"This
is the very thing that Clive Bundy single-handedly took a stand
against. Thank you, Clive, from a rancher who considers you a hero."
-Kena Lytle Gloeckner
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