Category Archives: Land

Trump to order review of Bears Ears, Grand-Staircase, other national monuments

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump will sign an executive order Wednesday instructing the Interior Department to review national monument designations made over the past two decades.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said he was grateful that Trump was moving to roll back what Hatch called “massive federal land grabs” by presidents dating to Bill Clinton. Hatch and other Utah Republicans have long lamented Clinton’s 1996 designation of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southern Utah.

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Feds stumble again with split verdict in Bundy standoff case

Government prosecutors stumbled again Monday in a bid to gain convictions of armed protesters in a case arising from skirmishes in a decades-old battle over control of public lands in the western United States.

A federal jury in Las Vegas found two gunmen guilty of some charges in a 2014 armed standoff that stopped federal agents from enforcing court orders and confiscating cows belonging to Cliven Bundy from public rangeland near his Nevada ranch and melon farm.

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Judge declares mistrial in Bundy Ranch standoff case

A federal judge declared a mistrial Monday in the first Bunkerville standoff case, which targeted six men accused of conspiring with rancher Cliven Bundy to derail a court-ordered cattle seizure in 2014.

The mistrial — an anticlimactic end to a highly anticipated trial — was declared hours after the jury convicted two men of some of the 10 counts in the superseding indictment.

In returning the guilty verdicts, which still stand, jurors informed the court they were “hopelessly deadlocked” on the remaining counts and defendants. U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro sent them back to the deliberation room in a last-ditch effort to encourage them to reach a more complete verdict.

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Editorial: Silly bill would create Public Lands Day

Some people have a really strange concept of “democracy,” and that says a lot about some of the people elected to the Nevada Legislature.

Also, if you thought an earlier proposal to change Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day as a silly waste of time and paper, wait till you take a gander at Senate Bill 413.

SB413 proposes to designate the last Saturday in September each year as Public Lands Day in Nevada and require the governor to issue a proclamation encouraging the observance of said Public Lands Day.

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As jury weighs Bundy Ranch standoff, Carol Bundy awaits her husband’s fate

BUNKERVILLE, Nev. — Carol Bundy sits alone in the living room of her family’s home, restlessly awaiting word that a federal jury is ready to render its verdict on the fate of “the custom and culture of the West; the cowboy way of life.”

Outside the front window, a sprinkler splashes water onto a small square of grass. Inside, a washing machine with worn bearings grinds through another load.

It’s hard to imagine this pastoral setting, past the concrete walkway and on the other side of a wagon-wheel entry gate, as the staging ground of what nearly became the 21st century’s first range war.

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Finicum family fighting BLM for grazing rights after death of LaVoy Finicum in Oregon standoff

Her husband will never return to trail the cows to winter range again, but Jeanette Finicum is determined that she will get the job done, eventually.

Although she’s provided a check to fully cover fines assessed over the last year, the Arizona rancher continues to be locked out of both her winter and summer grazing ranges.

Jeanette, whose husband Robert “LaVoy” Fincium was shot and killed by Oregon State Troopers last January, has managed grazing decisions on their northern Arizona ranch alone since his Jan. 26, 2016 death.

Pounding staples, doctoring sick calves and putting out mineral are on Jeanette’s list of tasks to complete throughout the year. Those are the easy jobs. She can soon add a much more painful item to the list: filing suit against the Bureau of Land Management. She plans to file suit within the next two weeks.

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Malheur refuge reopens headquarters, with new ‘security measures’ in place

By Jamie Hale | The Oregonian/OregonLive | March 31, 2017 at 7:00 AM Once occupied and long closed to the public, the headquarters at the Malheur Wildlife Refuge is finally back open – but with some new security measures in place. The refuge headquarters re-opened last week, according to Brent Lawrence, public affairs officer for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, though the visitor’s center (also known as the nature center) will remain closed until later this spring. “It’s a public facility, it’s public lands and we welcome members of the public” to come visit, Lawrence said. “All things associated […]

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Nevada Assembly resolution supports national monument designations

CARSON CITY — The Nevada Assembly on Thursday introduced a resolution of support for the national monument designations that Gold Butte and the Basin and Range areas have.

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Refuge manager, fish biologist tell jurors how they felt scared, violated during occupation

The manager of the Malheur National Wildife Refuge and its former fish biologist returned to the witness stand Tuesday morning in the government’s rebuttal to testify about the fears they felt just before and during the takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

Refuge manager Chad Karges, who was aware Ammon Bundy and followers were in the Burns area in late November and December 2015, said he placed loaded guns at every door of his home “just because of the threats I had seen” involving Bundy and his standoff with federal agents in Bunkerville, Nevada in 2014.

After Christmas 2015, Karges told his kids and grandkids not to venture into Burns.

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Defense calls last witnesses in second refuge takeover trial

Bruce “B.J.” Soper, a founding member of the Pacific Patriots Network, testified Monday that he heard Ammon Bundy propose taking over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in a hard stand during a brief meeting in a Burns home on Dec. 29, 2015.

But in contrast to refuge occupier Blaine Cooper’s testimony for the government, Soper said no logistics were discussed. He said Jason Patrick, Jon Ritzheimer, Ryan Payne and others were present but they never talked about how Bundy planned to accomplish the takeover. There was no discussion about refuge employees and no final decision was made during the 10- to 15-minute meeting, Soper said.

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Timber Companies Sue Over Cascade-Siskiyou Monument Expansion

Two lumber companies filed a lawsuit Friday challenging the legality of President Barack Obama’s expansion of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument during his last days in office.

Murphy Co. and a related company, Murphy Timber Investments LLC, filed the complaint in federal court in Medford against President Donald Trump, acting U.S. Secretary of the Interior Kevin Haugard, the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Land Management. The new administration could choose not to defend the lawsuit.

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Las Vegas jury views video of April 2014 rally led by Cliven Bundy

In response to news that federal agents decided to stop rounding up his cattle, rancher Cliven Bundy grabbed a microphone and delivered an ultimatum to the local sheriff.

“Disarm the park service,” he bellowed at a morning rally on April 12, 2014, after Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie announced that the Bureau of Land Management would cease a cattle impoundment operation that resulted from decades of unpaid grazing fees.

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Here’s what Ryan Bundy told a BLM agent before the Bunkerville standoff in 2014

The trial against six men accused of conspiring with rancher Cliven Bundy to block federal agents from carrying out a court order to impound his cattle is underway in federal court in Las Vegas, and prosecutors on Tuesday played recorded phone conversations between a Bureau of Land Management agent and one of Bundy’s sons.

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BLM council to meet about public lands, tour Red Cliffs

ST. GEORGE – The Bureau of Land Management-Utah’s Resource Advisory Council will hold meetings in St. George Thursday and Friday, including a field tour of the Red Cliffs National Conservation area.
On Feb. 23, the council will meet from 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. at the BLM-Utah St. George Field Office/Arizona Strip District Office, 345 E. Riverside Drive. A one-hour public comment period will take place from 3-4 p.m. during this session.

On Feb. 24, the council will meet at the field office from 8-10 a.m. and then proceed to the optional field tour of Red Cliffs from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. the public is invited to attend the field tour; the BLM asks those interested RSVP to Lisa Bryant at telephone 435-260-7003.

Agenda topics for the meetings include an introduction of new BLM managers, an update on the Planning 2.0 Rule (a 2016 initiative to increase public involvement and incorporate the most current data and technology into the BLM’s land use planning) and updates on current resource management planning efforts and projects including the greater sage-grouse.

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Tyranny to Victory: a Bundy Ranch Montage by Shannon Bushman w/ Jordan Page

Published on Apr 18, 2014
A photo montage of images captured by Shannon Bushman of the complete Bundy Ranch timeline of events that transpired from the protests at the cattle auction, to the standoff, to the cattle release. Music donated by http://JordanPageMusic.com Please support artists who love Liberty.

Download your free Next News “Heroes & Villains” Poster here: http://nextnewsnetwork.com/the-2013-h…

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3% of Idaho founder arrested after process server says he threatened her with gun

Brandon Curtiss, sued after he failed to turn over rents and other payments on properties he managed for clients, was arrested last month in Payette County after a confrontation with a woman serving him papers for an Ada County lawsuit.

The incident happened Aug. 9 when the process server for Tri County Process Serving of Boise went to a Fruitland home rented by Curtiss in the 400 block of N.W. 9th St. The woman said she knocked on the front door. Moments later, Curtiss came from around the back side of the house and confronted her.

“Get the (expletive) off my property. I have a gun and I’m going to use it,” the woman said Curtiss told her, according to an incident report filed by Officer Brian Wallace of the Fruitland Police Department. “I’m going to (expletive) shoot you if you don’t get off my (expletive) property.”

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Bundy Message from Malheur Standoff, Crossing Party Lines in Oregon

House Bill 2365 is what’s known as a message bill, a legislative way for lawmakers to take a stand, even though their proposal won’t pass. It’s walking dead.

The bill would establish a task force to study transferring most of Oregon’s federal land to state control. Places like the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area and the Mount Hood National Forest would move a step closer to being owned by a state already on the brink of selling public land.

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Oregon standoff defendants who dug trenches on refuge contend they were for self-defense

There’s no dispute that Oregon standoff defendants Duane Ehmer and Jake Ryan used a government excavator to dig two trenches during the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

The argument during their trial starting next week will be whether the two “willfully” broke the law, knowing the excavator and land belonged to the federal government, and that they went ahead anyway.

Prosecutors will play videos taken by David Fry, another refuge occupier, and aerial surveillance videos showing Ehmer and Ryan taking turns using the excavator to dig the trenches on Jan. 27, the day after the arrest of takeover leaders and the police shooting of occupation spokesman Robert “LaVoy” Finicum.

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Busted: Bundy Ranch Star Witness Exposed in Illuminatti Ritual

Bureau Of Land Management Agent Dan Love Who single handedly was almost responsible for the deaths of peaceful protesters and his fellow officers due to his escalating tactics such as setting up free speech zones, Beating, tazing, and pointing long guns at the protesters who came to the defense of rancher Cliven Bundy was just recently found guilty of ethics violations by the Office of Inspector General of the Dept Of Interior. They found that BLM Agent Dan Love used his Government position and authority to score 3 tickets to an illumanatti event known as Burning Man in 2015 for his family and girlfriend. The inspector General also found that Special Agent Dan Love also used government lodging where he and his girlfriend stayed, he also used Government vehicles to transport his family to and fro said event.

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With a legal wing and a prayer, Ryan Bundy gambles freedom by representing himself in Bunkerville standoff case

Ryan Bundy started his detention hearing with a prayer last week in US Magistrate Judge George Foley Jr.’s courtroom.

Although you don’t often see it in any legal jurisdiction, it should have come as no surprise. As a devoted member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the eldest son of Bunkerville cattle rancher Cliven Bundy prays often. Friends and family members who assembled at U.S. District Court prayed on bended knee before packing the courtroom on Bundy’s behalf. The group included Bundy’s wife and eight children, who by themselves filled nearly half a row in the courtroom.

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BLM schedules public forum about Gold Butte National Monument

The Bureau of Land Management will host a two-hour public forum Thursday in Mesquite to answer questions and quell rumors about the new Gold Butte National Monument.

Representatives from Clark County, the City of Mesquite and the Virgin Valley Water District will attend the 5 p.m. meeting at Mesquite City Hall, 10 E. Mesquite Blvd.

BLM officials will make a short presentation and then take questions from the audience.

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Oregon occupation defendant asks court to remove judge from misdemeanor trial

U.S. District Judge Anna J. Brown shouldn’t preside over the trial of defendants facing misdemeanor charges in the takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge because she met privately with jurors who acquitted Ammon Bundy after the first Oregon standoff trial last fall, one of the defendants argues in amotion filed late Wednesday.

“The Court not only answered questions the jurors had, but also discussed the merits of the case with specific reference to potential misdemeanor offenses that could have been used by the government, including trespass and the perceived inadequacy of a sentence to the government” if it had pursued such a charge, Duane Ehmer’s lawyer, Michele Kohler, wrote in a motion to recuse the judge.

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BLM Agent Daniel P. Love Under Fire By Bundy Case Attorney After Inspector General Probe Finds Him Guilty Of Misconduct

Las Vegas Nevada: On Wednesday Attorney Chris Rasmussen filed a Motion For Review of BLM Personnel Records after a scathing report released by the Office Of The Inspector General, said a Special Agent In Charge of the BLM was found to have committed Ethical Violations and Misconduct during an event in 2015 called “Burning Man” held in Black Rock Desert, Nevada.

The report contained points of interest for attorneys fighting an uphill battle in the Bundy Ranch case, especially the part about the Special Agent trying to intimidate and influence witnesses in his ethics investigation.

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REPORT RELEASED – Investigation of Ethical Misconduct and Violations by BLM Supervisory Agent

We investigated allegations that a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) supervisory agent used his official position to provide preferential treatment for family members attending the 2015 Burning Man event in Nevada. The allegations also indicated that the agent intervened improperly in a 2015 hiring process for a special agent position that facilitated the hiring of his friend instead of other qualified applicants.

We found that the agent violated Federal ethics rules when he used his influence with Burning Man officials to obtain tickets and special passes for his family. He also directed on-duty BLM law enforcement employees to escort his family in BLM-procured vehicles, drove his BLM vehicle with his girlfriend, and directed his employee to make hotel reservations for his guests. We also confirmed the supervisory agent’s intervention in the special agent hiring process to benefit a friend.

We forwarded our report to the U.S. Department of the Interior Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management for action, and we received a response from the Assistant Secretary.

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