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March 29, 2024 5:56 am
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EDITORIAL: Getting Back On The Rails

The freight train of constructive conversation about public lands policy; which rolled out of the station with Cliven Bundy’s protests against the roundup of his cattle, and gradually built up steam into a national cause; was suddenly derailed in an ugly train wreck last week. Ironically, it was Bundy himself who was driving the train, full throttle, right over the edge. So, instead of being remembered for his courageous, non-violent and victorious stand against the over-reaching arm of federal government; Bundy will now be forever linked to a rambling and shameful diatribe beginning with the words: “I want to tell you one more thing I know about the Negro…”

Unfortunately, Bundy has now come full circle. Once again, he stands alone. But this time it is not because no one will listen. Nor is it because no one cares about his plight. For a moment, Bundy became a lightening rod to a growing nation-wide movement resisting federal overreach. People rallied from all over the country to further the principles behind his cause. Bundy had the victory in his very grasp. But he just could not go home quietly and hold onto it.

Instead he cut his 15 minutes of fame short with last week’s reprehensible racial statements. His foolish and emotionally-charged discourse on such a perilous topic has made it nearly impossible for those who would have wielded power on his behalf to come to his aid. What’s worse, his statements have done a tremendous disservice to the larger cause. Rather than being a poster child for the need to reform public lands policy, Bundy has become a stumbling block. And that is a shame!

Fortunately, as we’ve said here many times before, it has never really been about Cliven Bundy. We can argue from now to eternity about the complex legalities surrounding feral cows and federal court orders. But all that would be just as off-topic as Cliven’s weird discourse about slavery.

Trouble is, with all this smoke and noise swirling around now, it is easy to lose sight of the real issues at stake. For example, the real issue of the BLM restricting the right of free speech with their “First Amendment zones”. And what about the real issue of armed federal agents using brutality and intimidation tactics on peaceful protestors found outside of those zones? While Sen. Harry Reid and the liberal media like to revise the facts of the case, it was actually the federal agents, not the militia or unarmed protesters, who were pointing most of the weapons and making threats of violence throughout the whole debacle under the freeway bridge.

More to the point, though, there is also the real issue of the BLM closing down more than 300,000 acres adjacent to our communities; bringing tourism to a near standstill for all of northeastern Clark County. And this gets us down to the crux of the matter. That is the unquenchable environmentalist thirst to designate nearly 350,000 acres in Gold Butte as a National Conservation Area with over 200,000 acres of restricted federal wilderness. In essence this would tighten down the land, keeping the management squarely and totally in the control of the federal bureaucracy. And Cliven’s cows are one of the last obstacles in the way of that environmentalist dream.

The final destination on the Cliven Bundy Express ought to have been to wrest the management of these, and millions of other acres of public land, away from the federal government and to put it under state and local control. Allow the local people, who use and value the land the most, to have the greater influence in conservation and management through their state and local governments. That common-sense approach should have always been the last stop on the line.

Indeed, the fires had been stoked and the train was already moving. A coalition of western states had already formed to advocate for the transfer of public lands from federal to state. The Nevada Legislature had already set up a task force to study the issue. Last week, that study was released showing the benefits and feasibility of such a transfer. Many Nevada legislators who had been empowered by the clear and well-publicized federal abuses in the BLM roundup, had pledged strong support to bring about just such a transfer. Finally, in the wake of the federal defeat under the I-15 bridge, the feds were suddenly humble and actually listening.

Everything had fallen into place. The train was moving full speed down the track with all aboard. Then Bundy’s ridiculous racial ruminations drove the whole thing off the rails last week.

The question now is: how do we get past the wreckage and move forward on this important issue? Is there anyone out there who will stand up for Nevada, lead things along and get the train back on track? Who will that be?

This has always been much bigger than Cliven Bundy. In fact it may be one of the most important economic issues currently facing the state of Nevada. More than 80 percent of Nevada’s public land is under the control of the federal government. That means untold millions in revenues from mining, agriculture, grazing rights, land leases and more is bypassing our state coffers. Meanwhile Nevada’s schools and universities are going severely underfunded and landing at the bottom of every national ranking system. Many of our people are still unemployed or underemployed. And the economic recovery that the rest of the country seems to be talking about is still a distant mirage for Nevadans.

Last week, the Nevada Public Lands Management Task Force presented its report to the state legislative committee on Public Lands. The report found that transferring only 4 million acres of BLM land; land that is already tagged for disposal, by the way; into a state trust would bring over $114 million per year in revenue to Nevada. Given the state of the State, that’s a big number to leave on the table year after year. And it’s a conservative figure.

So the question remains. Who is going to stand up for Nevada on this issue and lead the way to some real reform to public lands policy? We cannot afford to allow the unwise mis-statements of a single person to derail the whole process. Now is the time for elected officials of our state to push the advantage on this issue; and not let the opportunity pass us by.

Governor Brian Sandoval has focused his administration on economic development for the state. Opening up public lands for revenue generation sounds an awful lot like economic development. So Sandoval should be leading the charge on this.

The members of Nevada’s Congressional delegation have paid lip service as well about working hard in Washington for Nevada’s economic development. No matter where their various districts lie, we are talking about 80 percent of the state. They all should own this one. It’s time for each of them to put their money where their mouth is.

Finally, public lands policy reform should be a top issue in the mind of every state legislator and an urgent campaign focus for every statewide and Congressional candidate in the upcoming elections. If they are not ready for action on this issue, they don’t deserve your vote.

Finally, to bring about the greatest reform, this needs to be a multi-state effort. Now is the time for the experienced statesmen all across the western United States to come together on this issue. And Nevada’s leaders should not be riding quietly in the caboose. Given all of the real instances of federal overreach in the Bunkerville episode this month, Nevada’s leaders should be in the front of the train, running the engine as hot as it will go. Now is the time for them to take over operation of the train and get us back on the rails before the fires cool.

Full steam ahead!

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2 thoughts on “EDITORIAL: Getting Back On The Rails”

  1. TIM THURMAN, Overton

    Vernon, Thank You, finally someone hit the nail on the head as to the real issue here .
    It is in you statement you made above and pasted here:

    That is the unquenchable environmentalist thirst to designate nearly 350,000 acres in Gold Butte as a National Conservation Area with over 200,000 acres of restricted federal wilderness. In essence this would tighten down the land, keeping the management squarely and totally in the control of the federal bureaucracy. And Cliven’s cows are one of the last obstacles in the way of that environmentalist dream.
    Hopefully a salvage crew can gather up enough pieces of the Train at the bottom of the cliff it just went off and put together a train our State politicians will be willing to travel on.

  2. TIM THURMAN, Overton

    Vernon, Thank You, finally someone hit the nail on the head as to the real issue here .
    It is in you statement you made above and pasted here:

    That is the unquenchable environmentalist thirst to designate nearly 350,000 acres in Gold Butte as a National Conservation Area with over 200,000 acres of restricted federal wilderness. In essence this would tighten down the land, keeping the management squarely and totally in the control of the federal bureaucracy. And Cliven’s cows are one of the last obstacles in the way of that environmentalist dream.
    Hopefully a salvage crew can gather up enough pieces of the Train at the bottom of the cliff it just went off and put together a train our State politicians will be willing to travel on.

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