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New Mexico has a new ‘wilderness area’ containing 500,000 acres known as the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument. It’s located next to the Mexican border and has five mountain ranges with prehistoric rock art and more recent historic sites such as a training area for the Apollo astronauts.

The Bureau of Land Management will oversee control of the land. About half of the land is to be set aside, meaning it will be closed to vehicles and construction.

The agreement remains controversial for both sides of the immigration debate.

“This is about opposing so many thousands of acres that is going to create nothing more than a pathway for criminals to get into this country to do their criminal acts,” said Dona Ana County Sheriff Todd Garrison.

“My fear is these areas will be used more than they are now because they’ll have access to it that will be private and closed off to every law-abiding citizen,” the sheriff said. “I believe this monument will hamper law enforcement’s ability to effectively patrol the area we need to patrol.”

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency refuted the claim that the designation would threaten border security.

“This designation will in no way limit our ability to perform our important border security mission, and in fact provides important flexibility as we work to meet this ongoing priority,” said spokeswoman Jenny Burke. “CBP is committed to continuing to work closely with the Department of the Interior and the U.S. Forest Service to maintain border security while ensuring the protection of the environment along the border.”

Administration officials said the declaration will merge a 2006 agreement between the Interior Department and the Homeland Security Department that allows U.S. Border Patrol some access to the land. That agreement prevents most routine patrols through wilderness, though it does allow them to continue to follow smugglers in hot pursuit.

Congressman Rob Bishop, of Utah argues the environmental restrictions will continue hurt the Border Patrol’s ability to do its job and sent a letter to Mr. Obama asking him to hold off until the border can be controlled.

“It’s irresponsible to focus efforts on new land designations rather than finding solutions to existing criminal activities plaguing the border,” the congressman wrote.

Bishop pointed to a case in which a National Park Service employee at Chiricahua National Monument in Arizona detailed the vicious attack she suffered at the hands of an illegal immigrant. Authorities said the man smashed her head into a metal bathroom door and hit her head with a rock, striking so hard that the rock broke.

“By creating this monument, President Obama is ensuring a pathway to get drugs into the country” said Zack Taylor, Chairman of the National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers.

Taylor, a 26-year border security veteran, pointed out that one of the most dangerous cities in the world, Juarez, Mexico, is right across the New Mexico border. Impeding law enforcement near this section of the border could allow Juarez’s cartels and violence to enter the U.S. with ease.

“This is the wrong place to put a monument,” Taylor said. “The New Mexico border has no river–it’s just an imaginary line. If criminal illegal aliens can walk across the border and into the sanctuary area, they will use that land for criminal activity and use it extensively. Everything surrounding the monument is in peril.”

“Who benefits form this more than the cartels?” Taylor asked. “The people who live there don’t benefit, law enforcement doesn’t benefit, the sheriffs don’t benefit. The only people who benefit from this monument are illegal immigrants brining drugs into this country.

Environmentalists say we’re protecting this land by shutting people out, but we’re actually doing the opposite.”

Conservationists and tourism businesses have been pushing for the designation, hoping it will bring more visitors.

“The Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument will help protect our way of life while allowing for responsible development and expanding opportunities for all Americans to enjoy the beauty and multi-cultural history of this unique landscape,” Billy Garrett, Dona Ana County Commission chairman, said in a statement.

The half-million-acre proposal also has the backing of the state’s U.S. senators.

“An Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument will preserve important cultural links to our past and strengthen southern New Mexico’s economy by boosting tourism and recreational opportunities, like hunting, hiking, camping, and horseback riding,” Senator Martin Heinrich said in a statement.

The New Mexico wilderness area is Obama’s second designation this year. In March, he added 1,600 acres in the Point Arena-Stornetta region to the California Coastal National Wilderness Area established by President Bill Clinton in 2000.

Life-long Klamath, California resident Pam Collins passed away May 29, 2014. Born March 4, 1943 to Pernie and Ernest “Mike” Benedict, she married Tom Collins, June 25, 1960.

We used to go with our folks to visit ‘Grandma’ Pernie and ‘Grandpa’ Mike. Her brother was better known as ‘Uncle Ron,’ to me and my siblings, since he used to come to the house for dinner before he got married.

Lori and I attended school together at both Margaret Keating School and then Del Norte High. One time Mike was over at our house because Mom was babysitting him, and after irritating me with his constant teasing, I threatened to hang him on the wall by his thumbs.

When Pam found out what I said, she was ready to skin me alive. I don’t think Mom ever watched Mike again after that.

Pam’s survived by her husband Tom; her children Lori, Michael, and Joel.  She was preceded in death by her parents and brother.

Colorado law has trumped the individual liberty of ‘freedom of religion,’ as guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution, by forcing a man to bake a cake for a homosexual wedding, then making his employees take anti-discrimination training. The same thing is happening in Oregon.

The State of Michigan is now in charge of all children between the age of 12 and 17 years – and parents can go ‘suck wind.’

There was a real chill as President Barack Obama told the Class of 2014s United States Military Academy at West Point that fighting “climate change” will “help shape your time in uniform.

“Keep in mind, not all international norms relate directly to armed conflict,” Obama said. “We have a serious problem with cyber-attacks, which is why we’re working to shape and enforce rules of the road to secure our networks and our citizens.

“In the Asia Pacific, we’re supporting Southeast Asian nations as they negotiate a code of conduct with China on maritime disputes in the South China Sea,” he added. “And we’re working to resolve these disputes through international law.”

“That spirit of cooperation,” Obama continued, “needs to energize the global effort to combat climate change–a creeping national security crisis that will help shape your time in uniform, as we are called on to respond to refugee flows and natural disasters and conflicts over water and food, which is why next year I intend to make sure America is out front in putting together a global framework to preserve our planet.”

“You see, American influence is always stronger when we lead by example,” Obama included. “We can’t exempt ourselves from the rules that apply to everybody else. We can’t call on others to make commitments to combat climate change if a whole lot of our political leaders deny that it’s taking place.”

While Obama views climate change as a national security crisis, many Army officers will not have learned about it during their time at West Point. For example, cadets who take Environmental Engineering courses will study “air pollution concerns such as global climate change, acid rain and smog.”

In fact, the phrase “climate change” is mentioned only six times in the U.S. Military Academy’s course catalog for the class of 2016 and one meteorology course includes “a brief look at climate and climate change.”

Another course, ‘Environmental Security,’ offers a “case study approach” to environmental issues affecting national security, including “global climate change.” Finally an ‘International Organizations and Institutions, course includes the option of studying “the Kyoto Protocol/other Climate Change institutions.”

More frightening than Obama’s lack of knowledge about the USMA’s actual syllabus is how he views the nation’s standing in the world.

“It is absolutely true that in the 21st century, American isolationism is not an option,” Obama said. “Since World War II, some of our most costly mistakes came not from our restraint, but from our willingness to rush into military adventures — without thinking through the consequences; without building international support and legitimacy for our action, or leveling with the American people about the sacrifice required.”

“Here’s my bottom line: America must always lead on the world stage,” Obama claimed. “If we don’t, no one else will. The military that you have joined is, and always will be, the backbone of that leadership. But U.S. military action cannot be the only – or even primary – component of our leadership in every instance. Just because we have the best hammer does not mean that every problem is a nail.”

He spoke of terrorism saying it remains the largest threat facing the U.S. and how he has asked Congress for $5 billion to fund new counterterrorism partnerships.

“These resources will give us flexibility to fulfill different missions, including training security forces in Yemen who have gone on the offensive against Al Qaeda; supporting a multinational force to keep the peace in Somalia; working with European allies to train a functioning security force and border patrol in Libya; and facilitating French operations in Mali,” he said.

Obama added that he did not want to commit the American military to Syria, but believes other actions can be taken to support the rebels.

“With the additional resources I’m announcing today, we will step up our efforts to support Syria’s neighbors — Jordan and Lebanon; Turkey and Iraq — as they host refugees, and confront terrorists working across Syrian borders,” Obama said. “I will work with Congress to ramp up support for those in the Syrian opposition who offer the best alternative to terrorists.”

In calling for multilateral action, he attacked the opposition to the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST.)

“It’s a lot harder to call on China to resolve its maritime disputes under the Law of the Sea Convention when the United States Senate has refused to ratify it,” he complained, ‘despite the repeated insistence of our top military leaders that the treaty advances our national security. That’s not leadership; that’s retreat.”

LOST is an agreement drawn up by the United Nations and ratified by 162 countries and the European Union that governs the oceans. The treaty has been described as a “constitution of the oceans” and was negotiated in the 1970s and early 1980s.

The U.S. signed the treaty in 1994 but hasn’t ratified it. In 2010, Obama adopted the recommendations of the Ocean Policy Task Force, but fortunately two-years later the U.S. Senate voted it down.

Obama also returned to his broken promise to close the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center and talked about the NSA data gathering.

“I believe in American exceptionalism with every fiber of my being,” Obama claimed. “But what makes us exceptional is not our ability to flout international norms and the rule of law; it’s our willingness to affirm them through our actions,”

“That’s why I will continue to push to close Gitmo — because American values and legal traditions don’t permit the indefinite detention of people beyond our borders,” he continued. “That’s why we are putting in place new restrictions on how America collects and uses intelligence – because we will have fewer partners and be less effective if a perception takes hold that we are conducting surveillance against ordinary citizens. America does not simply stand for stability, or the absence of conflict, no matter what the price; we stand for the more lasting peace that can only come through opportunity and freedom for people everywhere.”

Obama’s approval rating among those serving in the military is only 32 percent and the ongoing VA scandal, like his commencement speech at West Point, won’t help that figure improve.

President Barack Obama’s “Summit on Concussions,’ suggests another progressive president’s attempt to ‘protect players from injury.’ Theodore Roosevelt hosted a similar summit on October 9th, 1905 at the White House for coaches and other representatives of the top football powers at the time: the teams from Harvard, Princeton and Yale.

TR claimed to love the game because he believed it toughened the men who played it, but he knew things had gotten out of hand.

“Football is on trial,” he told the conference attendees. “Because I believe in the game, I want to do all I can to save it.”

There was no forward pass in those days, and the only way to move the ball down the field was to use brute force, which in that era of minimal protective gear meant that severe injuries occurred regularly. Some wanted to ban the sport.

Retired University of Nevada, Reno President Joe Crowley writes in his 2005 book, ‘In the Arena the NCAA’s First Century,’ “The 18 fatalities and 149 serious injuries of the 1905 season brought critics out in force. Condemnations from the press were plentiful.”

Roosevelt’s intervention didn’t have an immediate effect, but after more prodding by from the president, reforms were accepted in 1906. They included legalizing the forward pass, abolishing mass formations that caused dangerous pile ups, and creating a neutral zone between offense and defense.

One-hundred and eight years later, in August 2013, the National Football League reached a tentative $765 million settlement over concussion-related brain injuries among its 18,000 retired players. This came after a number of high-profile former players sued claiming their neurological problems stem from on-field concussions and that the league hid the known risks.

Earlier in January of the same year, while speaking on the same subject, Obama stated that if he had a son, he’d “have to think long and hard” before letting him play because of the physical toll the game takes. Then last month he took offense when Carl Rove suggested Hillary Clinton had a ‘traumatic brain injury,’ following a fall she took in December 2012.

During his summit, Obama claimed to have played tackle football. While playing he said that he may-or-may-not have been left him with a concussion.

The national media has made a great effort to show how active the President is by providing video and stories of his athletic skills. Since taking office we have learned Obama can swim, golf, ride a bicycle, play basketball, bowl, throw a football and a baseball, shoot a shot-gun and kick a soccer ball.

Yet neither of his autobiographies, ‘Dreams of My Father,’ and ‘Audacity of Hope,’ mention this fact. The only sport Obama claims to have played is basketball on his high school’s varsity team.

But what is being overlooked by the media is a report from the U.S. General Accounting Office, which states traumatic brain injury, (TBI) “has emerged as a leading injury among service members” serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Though it’s hard to know the total number of soldiers dealing with TBIs, the 2011 RAND Corporation’s report, ‘Invisible Wounds of War,’ suggested about 320,000 soldiers have experienced a TBI since October 2001.

Breaking that number down, it’s possible as many as 40,000 U.S. service members have sustained TBI’s while deployed. The RAND Corporation’s report also revealed the absence of care for service members is 57% of those who may have experienced a TBI were never evaluated by a physician for a brain injury.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Inspector General has found 1,700 veterans have been left to wait for care from at least one VA hospital. The scope of the inquiry is widening, with 42 VA medical centers across the country now under investigation for possible abuse of scheduling practices, according to the report.

Note the dichotomy.

It is exhaustive work, calling out the national media for its inaccurate reporting especially when it concerns the Progressive agenda. This time it’s the murders that happened on and near the University of California, Santa Barbara campus.

• From the Washington Post: “At least six people were killed and several others injured during a shooting rampage…”
•  “The pops sounded like firecrackers, a common mischief,” reported CNN. “And the gun looked fake, like one used for pellet games. But what seemed like a college joke at first became very real.”
•  “A series of drive-by shootings in the Isla Vista area near UC Santa Barbara on Friday night left seven people dead…” writes the Los Angeles Times.

The problem is that this killing spree began with the stabbing to death of three people in 22-year-old Elliot Rodger’s home. The killing ended after Rodger ran over a bicyclist.

Authorities found him in his car with a gunshot wound to the head.

Sheriff Bill Brown said, “It would appear he took his own life.”

Police said three guns were recovered from his car, where Rodger also had more than 400 rounds of ammunition.

“All were legally purchased from federally licensed dealers and all were registered to the suspect,” said Brown.

Was the knife sold by a federally licensed dealer and was it registered? The answer is obviously no; meaning the choice of weapon makes no difference in this case, except how the media is spinning it.

Rodger also had a history of mental illness, having been seen by a psychiatrist since the age of nine, something the media is willing to hang on. And though his family did contact police about his possible danger to society, authorities were unable to find anything for which to detain him.

What the media also doesn’t want admit is that generally when some nut-job goes on a killing rampage; it’s somebody with a Progressive point of view. After all, remember when the media claimed the Aurora theater shooter was a Tea Party member and when they scrubbed the manifesto of cop-killer Chris Dorner of his leftist themes?

They’ve also over looked a similar event on February 23, 2001. David Attias, a freshman at UCSB, killed four people near the university with his car.

Attias is the son of veteran TV director Daniel Attias, whose credits include “Entourage,” “The Sopranos” and other high-profile shows. He was sentenced to 60 years at a mental institution after being found guilty of four counts of second-degree murder.

Attias set off on the vehicular assault after being spurned by a woman. The Los Angeles Times reported on July 13, 2002 that Attias will “…remain at Patton State Hospital in San Bernardino indefinitely, trying to overcome delusions so severe that a new report said he had come to believe that “’the world was a computer game.’”

As for Rodger, he was a young man whose life was filled with only online gaming and little else. Surprisingly though he did subscribe to one ‘political’ site called, “The Young Turks.”

The site boasts a network that generates over 68 million views per month. Furthermore, they describe followers like Rodgers as “Young progressive or insurgent member of an institution, movement, or political party.”

It also offers such ‘news’ as ‘Kim Kardashian Wedding,’ ‘Presidential pets – the video you always wanted,’ and ‘Best advice: keep your racism to yourself,’ all under “Tea Party Reporting.” It is more like entertainment and propaganda, than a real news source.

Furthermore, his ‘YouTube’ account was also filled with complaints about being unable to have a relationship with women and his “Day of Retribution,” where Rodger lays out his exact plans to kill.

“All those girls that I’ve desired so much, they would’ve all rejected me and looked down upon me as an inferior man if I ever made a sexual advance towards them while they throw themselves at these obnoxious brutes,” Rodger says to the camera as he sits in his car. “I’ll take great pleasure in slaughtering all of you. You will finally see that I am in truth the superior one the true alpha male.”

“After I’ve annihilated every single girl in the sorority house, I’ll take to the streets of Isla Vista and slay every single person I see there,” he continues. “If I can’t have you, girls, I will destroy you.”

Rodgers hatred of women spawned a Twitter-wide movement known as ‘#YesAllWomen.’ The media is happy to trumpet this-yet-another movement aimed at changing the world through social media as it helps news outlets avoid asking some tough questions.

One of those questions might lead to exploring how much did violent online gaming play in this tragedy. After all, Rodger mentions ‘World of Warcraft,’ 41 times in his 141-page manifesto, titled “My Twisted World.”

“Now that I was able to play World of Warcraft at my mother’s house with no limitations, aside from school and homework, I became very addicted to the game and my character in it,” Rodger writes. “It was all I cared about.”

Near the end of his manifesto, Rodger’s proclaims: “On the Day of Retribution, I will truly be a powerful god, punishing everyone I deem to be impure and depraved.”

The connection between trouble young men and violent online gaming is self-evident. In fact, ‘online gaming’ rehabilitation facilities have been established to help people with their gaming addiction, because medical professionals are beginning to recognize online gaming as a real addiction just like gambling, alcohol, and drugs.

If someone is spending a large amount of time playing violent online games, these are a few of the signs they are addicted:

• They constantly talk about their online gaming success.
• Their personal hygiene declines.
• They begin to see violence as acceptable behavior.
• They lose interest in the daily activities, becoming more of a loner.
• They sacrifice everything, including skipping school or work, sleep, and meal.

Finally, online gaming, in general, has been linked to young adults finding it hard to meet personal milestones like moving out of their parents’ house, going to college, holding a job or getting married. In fact, some men are stuck in a prolonged adolescence; one stat says 18-to-34-year-old men spend more time playing online games than 12-to-17-year-old boys.

Unfortunately, nothing will change with regard to violent online gaming. After all the bottom-line is huge with Americans spending $20.77 billion on video games, hardware, and accessories in 2012, according to the Entertainment Software Association.

Mount Rainier National Park official says there are no plans to recover the bodies of six climbers who fell 3,300 feet to their deaths. A helicopter crew spotted camping and climbing gear in an avalanche-prone area below the group’s last known position of 12,800 feet.

Among those presumed dead is Truckee, California resident Matt Hegeman, who worked as a guide for Seattle’s Alpine Ascents International. He had climbed Mount Rainier more than 50 times and was a regular on Northern California’s Mt. Shasta.

Officials add that the continuous ice fall and rock fall make the area too dangerous for rescuers, but that the area will be checked periodically by air in coming weeks and months. They will also evaluate the potential for a helicopter-based recovery as snow melts and conditions change.

A mining company from the UK has applied to the U.S. Forest Service to begin exploratory drilling over thousands of acres of forest lands, including Baldface Creek, in Curry County, Oregon, which flows into the Smith River. It’s the last major California River without a dam and is a passageway for spawning fish and a source of drinking water for Crescent City and other local towns.

The proposal by the Red Flat Nickel Corporation is to begin drilling southeast of the Kalmiopsis Wilderness in the Klamath Mountains to determine whether a full-scale mining operation would be economically feasible. The the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says this type of hard rock mining is the largest source of toxic pollution in the nation.

There may not be much anybody can do to stop the company from putting in a mine. The General Mining Act of 1872, approved during the presidency of Ulysses Grant. It says, in essence, that all citizens 18 years or older have the right to make a claim on federal land and extract minerals for a nominal fee.

Miners and prospectors in the California Gold Rush of 1849 found themselves in a legal vacuum. Although the US federal government had laws governing the leasing of mineral land, the Federal government had only recently acquired California by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, and had little presence in the newly acquired territories.

Miners organized their own governments in each new mining camp (for example the Great Republic of Rough and Ready), and adopted the Mexican mining laws then existing in California that gave the discoverer right to explore and mine gold and silver on public land. Miners moved from one camp to the next, and made the rules of all camps more or less the same, usually differing only in specifics such as in the maximum size of claims, and the frequency with which a claim had to be worked to avoid being forfeited and subject to being claimed by someone else.

California miners spread the concept all over the west with each new mining rush, and the practices spread to all the states and territories west of the Great Plains. Although the practices for open mining on public land were more-or-less universal in the West, and supported by state and territorial legislation, they were still illegal under existing federal law.

At the end of the Civil War, some eastern congressmen regarded western miners as squatters who were robbing the public patrimony, and proposed seizure of the western mines to pay the huge war debt. In June 1865, Congressman George Julian of Indiana introduced a bill for the government to take the western mines from their discoverers, and sell them at public auction.

Congressman Fernando Wood proposed the government send an army to California, Colorado, and Arizona to expel the miners “by armed force if necessary to protect the rights of the Government in the mineral lands.” He advocated that the federal government itself work the mines for the benefit of the treasury.

Western representatives successfully argued that western miners and prospectors were performing valuable services by promoting commerce and settling new territory. In 1865, Congress passed a law that instructed courts deciding questions of contested mining rights to ignore federal ownership, and defer to the miners in actual possession of the ground.

The following year, Congressional supporters of western miners tacked legislation legalizing lode or hardrock mining on public land onto a law regarding ditch and canal rights in California, Oregon, and Nevada. The legislation, known as the “Chaffee laws” after Colorado Territorial representative Jerome Chaffee, passed and was signed July 26th, 1866.

Congress extended similar rules to placer mining claims in the “placer law” signed into law on July 9th, 1870.

The Chaffee law of 1866 and the placer law of 1870 were combined into the General Mining Act of 1872. The mining law of 1866 had given discoverers rights to stake mining claims to extract gold, silver, cinnabar — the principal ore of mercury — and copper.

When Congress passed the General Mining Act of 1872, the wording was changed to “or other valuable deposits,” giving greater scope to the law. The Act also set the price of the land claim to range $2.50 to $5.00 per acre, which has remained the same since.

In 1851, gold was discovered at several locations in the Smith River watershed including Myrtle Creek, Haines Flat, and French Hill. By 1852, gold mining was booming and hundreds of mining claims were staked.

As placer gold deposits in the Smith River system were running out in 1860, copper ore was discovered in serpentine areas. Copper mining was soon booming, and mines were established in serpentine areas of the basin including Hardscrabble Creek.

Copper was in demand for manufacturing ammunition shells during the Civil War. At the end of the war in 1865, copper mining declined rapidly.

At about the same time, another important mineral was discovered in the serpentine areas – chromite. Many mines were established in the North Fork area, including High Divide near Hardscrabble Creek, Low Divide, and High Plateau, but 1894, they were shut down because of changes in tariff laws.

Hydraulic mining became the most widespread technique for extracting gold and continued into the mid-1890’s at the mouth of Hurdygurdy Creek, near Big Flat. But after a landslide destroyed the main water supply ditch, mining became limited and sporadic.

Yet in 1904, a hard rock gold mine and the town of Monumental were established about two miles from the top of Shelly Creek. However, Monumental Mining Company went bankrupt following the destruction of their offices in San Francisco by the earthquake and fire of 1906.

Currently, Oregon Congressman Peter DeFazio and U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley are being urged to resubmit previous requests they have made to the Obama administration to withdraw the land from mineral development. Meanwhile the U.S. Forest Service is consulting with tribal leaders and is expected to release an environmental analysis this summer.

Mining was the leading industry in the early days of Del Norte County. Much of this activity took place at Myrtle Creek, along the South Fork of Smith River, at Happy Camp (where the industry is still carried on), and in the vicinity of Crescent City.

Journals from the many express companies that operated in those early years, show large shipments of gold dust from the few claims worked. They also detail an influx of miners following the initial discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill.

Walter Van Dyke was an attorney from Ohio who came to California in the first wave of “49ers,” wrote about mining in Del Norte before it was a county.

“In the summer of 1852 the miners pushed on up the Klamath a long distance above the mouth of the Salmon, and by fall a large number had gathered on a plateau at the mouth of a stream putting down from the northwest, which they named ‘Happy Camp,’ writes Van Dyke. “They worked on this stream, and over the divide on streams flowing northwesterly into Rogue River.”

“The mines on these latter were quite rich, and attracted a rush of miners,” he adds. “They were near to, and in some of them over, the Oregon line…”

Since the 1950s, Nevada cattle rancher’s grazing rights have been reduced by more than 50 percent and sheep grazing rights by more than 90 percent. Now former Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons is helping the Tomeras and Filippini families turn their cattle out south of Battle Mountain, as they fight the Bureau of Land Management’s latest decision.

“Most people don’t have to fight to make a living. These folks do,” Gibbons said.

BLM District Manager Doug Furtado told the ranching families in February that he was not going to allow any grazing on the Mount Lewis pasture of the Argenta Allotment because of drought concerns. His decision left the families facing financial ruin.

On May 23rd, the BLM agreed to allow a partial turn out of the ranchers’ cows. The BLM termed the agreement temporary, claiming it would have formal grazing licenses prepared by the first week of June.

However there is concern over the BLM’s past history when it comes to temporary agreements.

In 1964 the BLM forced the ranchers on Mount Lewis to cut their cattle and sheep grazing by 50 percent, even though half of the land was privately-owned, as are all of the water rights. The ranchers had been grazing their cattle on the mountain since 1862, two years before Nevada became a state.

In the 1980s Nevada bought out the Tomera Ranches in Elko County to build the South Fork Reservoir. The Tomera family then bought ranches on Mount Lewis, where they and the Filippini’s, have been grazing ever since.

The Tomeras own 80 percent of the grazing rights and most of the water on the mountain. They also own more than 80 springs, 12 wells and 183 miles of streams and have always paid their grazing fees.

The federal government owns no water and only 44 percent of the land, yet they tell the ranchers when and how they can graze,” said Elko County Commissioner Grant Gerber. “It is an intolerable situation. Why should the federal government be able to control an individual’s private land?”

In February the BLM informed the Tomeras it was cutting 2014 their grazing rights by 100 percent, leaving them no place to graze 1,800 head of cattle. This was after the families built an $80,000, 16-mile fence in an attempt to satisfy the BLM’s demands — all to no avail.

The current closure led to the ‘Grass March,’ a group of cowboys and girls carrying petitions to Governor Brian Sandoval, seeking Furtado’s removal from office and the lifting of restrictions by the BLM.

“You have my assurance I will continue to speak with the BLM as well as the Department of the Interior to ensure all Nevadans are heard,” Sandoval said in response to receiving the petitions.