Public protest against the federal Bureau of Land Management went from Elko to Carson city this weekend in the form of a 300 mile horse back ride.
Elko County commissioner Grant Gerber led the protest and hand delivered a petition to Nevada Governor Bryan Sandoval demanding the BLM reverse its decision to slash the grazing rights of two Elko area families on the grounds that since weather conditions have changed the drought restrictions should also be lifted.
While the cause of action were extremely local this most recent protest could be part of a growing movement against the BLM in Nevada and the rest of the West.
Heartened by the so far successful stand of southern Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, a new Sage Brush Rebellion could be coming to the fore.
This April over 200 armed BLM agents stopped their effort to round up some 1,000 head of Bundy cattle at the family ranch in Bunkerville, Nevada after facing hundreds of Bundy supporters many of whom were also armed.
The BLM’s retreat was a first for any federal agency and raised the morale of the morale many in the anti-federal government movement especially in the West.
Even the Southern Poverty Law Center which in the last two decades has become the primary privately funded antagonist to the ‘patriot or militia’ movement admits that the numbers of various groups has grown almost exponentially in response to victory at Bunkerville.
According to some estimates some 50,000 new members have signed up for various militias or similar organizations since the events in Bunkerville.
The retreat and the victory celebration first prompted Senator Reid description of the groups as domestic terrorist shortly after the BLM rangers withdrew. A few days later in a debate with fellow Senator Dean Heller, Reid repeated the phrase on television. For his part Heller called the protesters patriots.
Most public officials have since retreated from their initial support due to some inappropriate racial comments Bundy made and since apologized for.
However even without them Gerber ride to Carson illustrates how deep the resentment is against the BLM, who critics charge attempts to do the impossible by managing millions of acres of western land from the banks of the Potomac.
