Sitting in 8th grade history class watching CNN Student News, my life trajectory suddenly changed. A breaking story hit the screen: ranchers in southern Nevada were in an armed standoff with the federal government. Images flashed of shotgun-wielding men on horseback lined up against black SUVs and outfitted soldiers. The newscaster called the ragtag militia of ranchers’ domestic terrorists. I called them family.
While the standoff between my relatives, namely Cliven Bundy, and the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) would end in 2014, conflict between them would continue to rage for several more years, with an eventual confrontation resulting in one man's death and both the imprisonment and dismissal of my family’s case.
The conflict centered around public lands. The Western region [1] of the United States is comprised of roughly 45% of all federal lands, with a state like Nevada having 80% of its land held by the federal government [2]. The agricultural industry, such as the cattle ranchers in my extended family, has long been at odds with this system due to increasing cattle grazing fees and one-size-fits-all regulations.
To summarize the position of my relatives and many disadvantaged by this system, they feel like the modern colonies of King George’s Great Britain. If America was founded upon the idea that George was tyrannical for taxing the colonists’ tea, then is it that crazy for farmers and ranchers to think that D.C. has maybe taken a step too far in taxing their cattle?
The feeling of disenfranchisement that ranchers experience not only extends from a disconnect with the federal government, but the continued pressure they feel from environmental initiatives. Consider the history of Cliven Bundy’s ranch. Receiving a permit from the BLM in 1954 and having paid the required grazing fees for decades, Bundy was a fully law abiding citizen and rancher. But, when the desert tortoise [3] was declared an endangered species in 1989, a plan was created that enabled 22,000 acres of tortoise habitat to be developed around Las Vegas in exchange for strict conservation measures on 400,000 acres of federal BLM land that in 1993 would be doubled in size to include the Bunkerville Allotment where Cliven grazed his cattle. [4]
Instead of selling his grazing rights back to the government like many other pressured ranchers, Cliven began his protest of the BLM and for the first time in decades declined to renew his permit nor pay grazing fees. Yet his cattle continued to graze. Whether you agree or disagree with the intent behind Cliven’s boycott, it summarizes the frustration ranchers and farmers alike face when confronted with the changing rules of the system, ones they did not have input on.
The purpose of this article is to not make the reader a Bundy apologist (indeed, I do not condone some comments made [5] nor the occupation of a wildlife reserve [6]) but instead, I use my family’s experience to highlight the difficult situation that many in the agricultural industry are faced with.
As someone hailing from Generation Z, the same generation of Gretha Thunberg and coming of age during the hottest years on record, I recognize and explicitly accept the man-made impact on weather patterns and climate change.
Gasp, I said it, climate change. While some Republicans would recoil at the mere mention of these words, I, like Senator John Curtis from Provo, Utah, thinks it's past time that Republicans stop plugging their ears and instead start practicing saying climate change in the mirror. Senator Curtis hosts a Conservative Climate Summit every year bringing in a wide range of experts and stakeholders concerning conservation, agriculture, energy, and governance. Students can attend the summit at a discounted rate.
Having attended the Summit before, I learned the difference between preservation and sustainability. Preservation is the wholesale hands-off approach to public lands and nature, believing that the environment is untouchable. Yet sustainability, and by extension acts of conservation, acknowledges the requirement and indeed inevitability of human interaction with nature and instead seeks to guide and collaborate with users of the land.
With the approach of sustainability in mind, cattle ranchers and others in the agricultural industry should be some of the first negotiators in this process. Consider the real successes that those in the agricultural industry have created, like the hydroponic farms in northern Utah that have created both a sustainable yet profitable setup. [7] Or how grazing can be a great tool to use against invasive species if done correctly [8] or prevent dry buildup and potential brushfires [9].
My relative’s cattle still roam the deserts of Bunkerville, Nevada to this day, grazing fees unpaid. And yet despite the concerns of some, the desert tortoise population in parts of these same lands has risen. [10] So, as we draft solutions for climate change and a sustainable future I urge leaders, activists, and lawmakers alike; please save a seat at the table for the ranchers.
