Bundy blasts grazing compromise

Bunkerville, Nevada, rancher Cliven Bundy insists a settlement agreement between Northern Nevada ranchers and the Bureau of Land Management approved by an administrative law judge Wednesday will weaken his fight with the BLM and hurt other Western ranchers in similar positions. "They (the ranchers) are accepting that the federal government has unlimited power over their ranch," Bundy said. "The federal judge has no jurisdiction or authority over Nevada state land. The rancher should have protected his water, grazing and access rights to Nevada state land." Bundy, who was in a similar fight with BLM in Southern Nevada, said agreeing to compromise with the BLM was a sign of weakness in his fight for states' rights. Bundy doesn't dispute the need for good range management but said the settlement meant more than that. "I didn't hear anything in that about the rancher's rights," Bundy said. "Nothing about his water rights, his grazing rights, his access rights, his preemptive rights that were created through beneficial use. Nothing has been said about that." Administrative Law Judge James Hefferman approved the agreement in Reno between the BLM and Battle Mountain ranchers Dan and Eddyann Filippini allowing cattle to graze on the Argenta allotment that was previously closed by the BLM because of drought conditions, according to a BLM news release. The settlement announced Wednesday allows grazing on the Argenta allotment with specific conditions to prevent overgrazing on all public lands within the allotment. It was the result of 31/2 months of collaborative discussions between the BLM's Battle Mountain staff, the National Riparian Services Team, the Argenta permitees, Western Watersheds Project, John Carpenter and Nevada Lands Action Association and Public Lands Council, the BLM news release states. Key elements of the agreement include a 3-year trial period focused on adaptive management to respond to site-specific conditions; development of a stockmanship plan focused on the use of riding and supplement use to meet riparian (stream side) and upland use levels; increased attention to monitoring before, during and after seasons of use, and a commitment by BLM to complete the permit renewal process within three years based on information gained from the adaptive management trial period, the BLM said...more