Standoff in the desert: Last rancher in south Nevada takes on 200 armed federal agents and snipers trying to confiscate cattle from his ancestral land in constitutional dispute over a rare TORTOISE
- Cliven Bundy is appealing for help to stop the Federal Bureau of Land Management and the FBi from removing his 900 or so cattle
- He claims his family have owned 600,000 acres of Gold Butte since 1870
- The federal government claims that the cattle are trespassing on arid and fragile habitat of the endangered desert tortoise
- Heavily armed federal officers equipped with 9 helicopters and backed up with snipers have descended on the land
- They have removed hundreds of the cattle in the past two weeks
- The federal authorities say that Bundy has refused to pay for grazing rights for 20-years
- Bundy has said the land is his and his constitutional rights are being trampled on
More than 200 armed federal agents and snipers were deployed on Tuesday to forcibly remove the cattle of a Nevada rancher - signaling a dangerous escalation in the two-decade long constitutional land dispute over an endangered tortoise.
Cliven Bundy, the last rancher in Clark County, Nevada, has been battling the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) since 1993 when he refused to pay for the right to graze on the 600,000-acre Gold Butte land he says his family have owned since the 1870s.
Claiming that the government has 'brought everything but tanks and rocket launchers', Bundy said his livelihood is being taken away from him by agents carrying, 'Automatic weapons, sniper rifles, top communication, top surveillance.'
Defiance: Cliven Bundy, (right), and friend, Clance Cox, stand at the Bundy ranch near Bunkerville Nevada on Saturday during the escalation of their dispute with the Federal Government
'The battle’s been going on for 20 years,' Bundy told theWashington Free Beacon from his ranch 75 miles outside of Las Vegas.
'What’s happened the last two weeks, the United States government, the bureaus are getting this army together and they’re going to get their job done and they’re going to prove two things.
'They’re going to prove they can do it, and they’re gonna prove that they have unlimited power, and that they control the policing power over this public land. That’s what they’re trying to prove.'
Eight helicopters are routinely circling the land and as of Wednesday, federal officials have seized 234 of Bundy's 908 cattle.
It is estimated that impounding them will cost upwards of $3 million.
The BLM says Bundy's cattle have been trespassing on U.S. land without required grazing permits for over 25 years.
Pressure and surveillance: A helicopter takes off from a staging area of Bureau of Land Management vehicles and other government vehicles off of Riverside Road near Bunkerville, Nevada over the weekend
Property: Cattle belonging to Cliven Bundy are rounded up with a helicopter near Bunkerville Nevada on Monday, April 7, 2014. The Bureau of Land Management has begun to round up what they call 'trespass cattle' that rancher Cliven Bundy has been grazing in the Gold Butte area 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas
However, Bundy said he doesn't recognize federal authority on land that he says belongs to the state of Nevada.
The BLM has released a statement on its website regarding the matter, saying, 'Cattle have been in trespass on public lands in Southern Nevada for more than two decades.
'This is unfair to the thousands of other ranchers who graze livestock in compliance with federal laws and regulations throughout the west.
'The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the National Park Service (NPS) have made repeated attempts to resolve this matter administratively and judicially.'
Speaking to the press on the outskirts of his land, Bundy said, 'I have raised cattle on that land, which is public land for the people of Clark County, all my life.
Constitutional: Contractors for the Bureau of Land Management round up cattle belonging to Cliven Bundy with a helicopter near Bunkerville, Nevada on Monday
Control: A Bureau of Land Management ranger stands guard at the entrance of a staging area near Mesquite, Nevada on Saturday, April 5, 2014
Rights: A helicopter takes off from a staging area of Bureau of Land Management vehicles and other government vehicles off of Riverside Road near Bunkerville
'Why I raise cattle there and why I can raise cattle there is because I have preemptive rights,” he said, explaining that among them is the right to forage.
'Who is the trespasser here? Who is the trespasser on this land? Is the United States trespassing on Clark County, Nevada, land?
'Or is it Cliven Bundy who is trespassing on Clark County, Nevada, land? Who’s the trespasser?'
Consistently through his 20-year struggle with the federal government, the veteran rancher has maintained that Washington has no right to order him from the land.
The Bureau of Land Management has 'overstepped its boundaries by not letting me access my rights, not recognizing state’s sovereignty, and having over 200 armed officers watching our every move and stealing our cattle,' Bundy said.
Resilient: Cliven Bundy, right, and Clance Cox, left, stand at the Bundy ranch near Bunkerville in defiance of the Federal Government
Conference: Cliven Bundy speaks on a phone in his home near Bunkerville, Nevada on Tuesday as he battles the confiscation of his cattle
Free speech? Cliven Bundy walks by a first amendment area set up by the Bureau of Land Management near Bunkerville
The situation escalated on Sunday after Cliven Bundy's son, Dave Bundy, 37, was arrested for filming federal agents while outside an area designated for First Amendment activity on the restricted property. He was held overnight.
He claims he was beaten for 'exercising his First Amendment rights' and did not resist arrest as officers claimed.
Cliven Bundy's daughter, Bailey Bundy Logue was appalled that her brother was arrested for taking pictures ont he families ancestral land.
'That is against our First Amendment right,' Logue said.
'They say it’s a First Amendment area, but we have rights everywhere. Since when have we had First Amendment areas? That’s not what it says in the Constitution.'
Indeed, Nevada's governor has criticized the cattle roundup and what he calls "intimidation" in the dispute.
Help: Supporters prepare to rally for Cliven Bundy at the Bundy ranch near Bunkerville Nevada on Monday, April 7, 2014
On Wednesday, officials from the federal Bureau of Land Management and National Park Service didn't immediately respond to Gov. Brian Sandoval's call for the BLM to 'reconsider its approach and act accordingly' in the ongoing roundup of about 900 cattle roaming a vast area about half the size of the state of Delaware.
Savage: Dave Bundy, son of embattled Bunkerville rancher Cliven Bundy claims he was taken into custody by federal agents on Sunday afternoon along state Route 170 near Mesquite. He was released Monday after being issued citations for failing to disperse and resisting arrest
'No cow justifies the atmosphere of intimidation which currently exists nor the limitation of constitutional rights that are sacred to all Nevadans,' Sandoval said in a statement released after business hours Tuesday.
The showdown pits Cliven Bundy's claims of ancestral rights to graze his cows on open range against federal claims that the cattle are trespassing on arid and fragile habitat of the endangered desert tortoise.
The Republican governor weighed in after several days of news coverage and radio talk show commentary about blocked roads and armed federal agents fanning out around Bundy's ranch while contractors using helicopters and vehicles herd cows into portable pens in rugged and remote areas.
Sandoval's comments came the same day the U.S. Senate confirmed Neil Kornze, a Nevada native, as the new BLM director.
Kornze is a natural resource manager who grew up in Elko and served previously as a senior adviser to Senate Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Sandoval is a former state attorney general and federal district court judge in a state with deep roots in states' rights disputes including the Sagebrush Rebellion of the 1970s and '80s.
Nevada was among Western states where ranchers challenged federal ownership of land they said was theirs.
People power: People help erect a pole to hang a banner during a rally in support of Cliven Bundy near Bunkerville Nevada on Monday
The governor said he was most offended that armed federal officials have tried to corral people protesting the roundup into a fenced-in 'First Amendment area' south of the resort city of Mesquite.
Dispute: The desert tortoise lives primarily in the southwest of the United States and has seen its population decrease by up to 90 percent in recent years
The site 'tramples upon Nevadans' fundamental rights under the U.S. Constitution' and should be dismantled, Sandoval said.
BLM spokeswoman Kirsten Cannon and Park Service spokeswoman Christie Vanover have told reporters during daily conference calls that free-speech areas were established so agents could ensure the safety of contractors, protesters, the rancher and his supporters.
The current roundup covers a dusty, windswept 1,200-square-mile area dotted with hardy mesquite and yucca, wispy cheatgrass and scenic rock formations north of the Lake Mead reservoir.
The dispute between Bundy and the federal government dates to 1993, when land managers cited concern for the federally protected tortoise and capped Bundy's herd at 150 animals on a 250-square-mile rangeland allotment.
BLM spokeswoman Cannon said Bundy has racked up more than $1.1 million in unpaid grazing fees while disregarding several federal court orders to remove his animals.
We shall not be moved: John Banks holds up a banner during a rally in support of Cliven Bundy near Bunkerville Nev. Monday, April 7, 2014, 2014. The Bureau of Land Management has begun to round up what they call "trespass cattle" that rancher Cliven Bundy has been grazing in the Gold Butte area 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas
Bundy estimates the unpaid fees total about $300,000. He notes that his Mormon family's 19th century melon farm in the Virgin River bottomland and ranch operation in surrounding areas predates creation of the federal Bureau of Land Management in 1946.
BLM and Park Service officials see threats in Bundy's promise to "do whatever it takes" to protect his property, and in his characterization that the dispute constitutes a "range war."
But since the cattle roundup began Saturday, there has been one arrest.
Bundy's son, Dave Bundy, 37, was taken into custody Sunday as he watched the roundup from State Route 170.
He was released Monday with bruises on his face and a citation accusing him of refusing to disperse and resisting arrest. A court date has not been set.
His mother, Carol Bundy, alleged that her son was roughed up by BLM police.
Meanwhile, federal officials say 277 cows have been collected since Saturday in the rangeland that has been closed to the public through May 12. A roundup contract totals $966,000.
Cannon said state veterinarian and brand identification officials will determine what becomes of the impounded cattle.
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