Suit: US grouse protections driven by politics, not science

(Hat tip: KimR) - Rural Nevadans suing to block the Obama administration's sage-grouse protections say a trail of internal government documents shows politics was the driving force behind a pre-determined policy that flies in the face of its experts' own best science. Read more at KTVZ.com Read More......

22 Texas lawmakers submit amicus brief in Red River land dispute

(Hat tip: KimR) - Twenty-two members of Texas’ congressional delegation filed an amicus brief Wednesday afternoon supporting landowners in a lawsuit against the federal government over disputed propertyalong the Red River. Read more at Trailblazers Blog Read More......

Conservatives Push Legislation to End the Bureau of Land Management's Reign of Terror!

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) has put forth a piece of legislation that would "terminate the law enforcement functions of the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management and to provide block grants to States for the enforcement of Federal law on Federal land under the jurisdiction of these agencies, and for other purposes." --HR 4751 is titled "Local Enforcement for Local Lands Act." The bill does the following... Read more at Eagle Rising Read More......

Life Under an Iron Fist

Activists protesting federal land mismanagement and the imprisonment of Dwight and Steven Hammond recently occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters building in Oregon. Some facts, context and perspective may help people understand what’s really going on here.

Read more at Townhall.com
(Hat tip: KimR) Read More......

Remember Cliven Bundy? Yep… he’s still #winning

Most of you probably remember the saga of Cliven Bundy from last year. The Nevada Rancher was in a legal battle with the federal government and the state of Nevada over grazing fees and property rights which turned into a standoff between the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and a literal army of Bundy’s supporters. Cliven’s cattle had been rustled out from under him and parts of his land blocked off. After some tense moments in the confrontation the BLM blinked first, packed their things and left. They vowed at the time that Bundy hadn’t heard the last of them, but as NPR reports, Bundy is still there and nothing noticeable has changed.

Read more at Hotair.com
(Hat tip: KimR) Read More......

Fence fight on Steens Mountain

THE BULLETIN, Bend, OR - Walden meeting with BLM in Burns over grazing dispute
WASHINGTON — More than a decade after Congress carved out special protections for Steens Mountain, including 100,000 acres of wilderness free of cattle, a dispute over fencing has pitted a local landowner against the Bureau of Land Management. ✧ George Stroemple wants to graze cattle on his Harney County property within the 100,000-acre “No Livestock Grazing Area” portion of 174,000 acres of wilderness created by the Steens Mountain Cooperative Management and Protection Act of 2000. The disagreement lies over who should build the fence needed to keep his livestock off the protected lands. ✧ Rep. Greg Walden, R-Hood River, plans to meet with BLM officials in Burns today [4/25]. ✧ The law states: “The Secretary (of the Interior) shall be responsible for installing and maintaining any fencing required for resource protection within the designated no livestock grazing area.”

Read more at The Bulletin Read More......

BLM unveils new wilderness push

THE DAILY SENTINAL, 12/23/2010 by Dennis Webb - "The Bureau of Land Management will launch a new effort to identify and protect lands with wilderness characteristics under an initiative announced by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar today. ∴ The effort comes in response to a 2003 settlement between former Interior Secretary Gale Norton and other parties including the state of Utah that left the BLM without a national wilderness policy. 'That is simply unacceptable,' Salazar said in a news conference in Denver. ∴ Salazar said the Norton agreement “frankly should never have happened and was wrong in the first place.” The new initiative won’t disavow that agreement by the Bush administration, but will make use of existing BLM authority to evaluate its lands for designation as “wild lands” following a public process. Such lands would be managed to protect their wilderness characteristics unless a new public management process results in a modified designation. ∴ Wild lands would differ from wilderness areas, which Congress designates and can be modified by legislation, and from wilderness study areas, which the BLM typically must manage as wilderness until Congress decides whether they merit wilderness designation. ∴ Salazar said the wild land designation provides more flexibility for multiple uses of land, such as for alternative energy development. But it would give lands with wilderness characteristics “a significant place at the table,” whereas in the past such characteristics weren’t valued, he said." Read More......