The Wildlife News
Recently we reported on Arizona/Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy who thinks he doesn’t have to pay grazing fees because he thinks the federal government does not own the U.S. public lands where his grazing allotment (now rescinded) lies. He threatens force to prevent his illegal cattle from being impounded.
A casual glance through the Great Falls (Montana) Tribune shows another rancher unilaterally closing a public road (used for the last 100 years) into the Little Belt Mountains.
Yet another rancher, elected to the Montana legislature, wants to impeach Governor Schweitzer for moving Yellowstone bison to northeastern Montana’s Fort Peck Indian Reservation.
In instance after instance ranchers refuse to obey the law, block the legitimate access of Americans to their land, and harass elected officials for managing wildlife in the public (rather than in the rancher’ personal private interest).
There reason so many public land issues can’t be solved is due to one thing — troublemaking ranchers. They never compromise. They have an unjustified sense of entitlement. They don’t think the law applies to them. They assume that they are the lawmakers (and in these sparsely inhabited areas they often are). Many average citizens of the West think there needs to finally be some equality and justice on the public lands — room and respect for the 99% who are not so overpriviledged.
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