Supporters of Nevada rancher in federal fight cause I-15 shutdown outside Vegas

Supporters, some of them armed, rallied Saturday around Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy in his showdown with U.S. rangers over cattle grazing on federal land, forcing the shutdown of northbound lanes of Interstate 15 near his ranch, the Nevada Highway Patrol said Saturday. No one has threatened violence, Trooper Loy Hixson told CNN. But a U.S. senator acknowledged that “tensions are still near the boiling point.” Authorities dispatched a SWAT vehicle to the protest site at Bunkerville, about 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas, according to photos provided by CNN affiliate KTNV. The large gathering was expected Saturday by the Bundy family, who told reporters a day earlier that many supporters couldn’t attend the weekday protest because of work. The growing protest came despite how earlier in the day, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management put an early end to a roundup of Bundy’s cattle, which the feds claim have been illegally grazing on federal land for 20 years. The bureau cited public safety concerns for abruptly ending the weeklong roundup. The Old West-style controversy — centering on a family who’ve been ranching in Nevada since the 1800s — drew armed militia groups from across the country to the cattleman’s side this week, especially after a YouTube video captured a tussle teetering on violence between rangers and protesters. “Based on information about conditions on the ground, and in consultation with law enforcement, we have made a decision to conclude the cattle gather because of our serious concern about the safety of employees and members of the public,” said Neil Kornze, director of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. In his Saturday announcement, Kornze said that contracted wranglers and U.S. rangers apparently made enough progress in rounding up cattle that belonged to Bundy, who is challenging federal authority in a valley that his family settled in the Wild West era. The roundup occurred near the scenic Virgin River at Bunkerville, where Bundy’s ranch is located. “We ask that all parties in the area remain peaceful and law-abiding as the Bureau of Land Management and National Park Service work to end the operation in an orderly manner,” Kornze said in a statement. “After one week, we have made progress in enforcing two recent court orders to remove the trespass cattle from public lands that belong to all Americans,” Kornze said...more