Ranchers have always grazed on open range, i.e., land that was not owned by anyone.
Nevada becomes a State, but inside it’s “borders” Fedzilla keeps title to most of the land.
It’s held until elite financiers need “their” CongressCriminal(tm) to give them a sweetheart land deal.
Until that time, it’s held by Fedzilla and called a “park” or something.
If you watch the move “Pale Rider”, you’ll get the gist of the story.
See, those ranchers...
Lahood: they’re standin’ in the way of progress.
Clint: who’s progress ? Theirs, or yours ?
The less illegitimate alternative would be to let each State’s OWN corrupt legislature administer land swindles at the State level.
In a State like Nevada, which would want to keep it’s hand in the range-grazed beef industry, they’d probably keep some arrangement going to let the rancher graze his cattle, and let their other land uses dovetail in with the rancher.
Once you get such a deranged (pun intended?) crook as Harry Reid in the US Senate, it becomes a certainty that he’ll use his office to rape the land and pillage the people, who will find it much harder to schmooze him at the Federal level than to schmooze local State legislators.
So, “Around 1990 or so they told him that he could no longer graze more than 150 of his 600 or so head of cattle there.”
If Bundy had agreed, he’d lose water rights...to the rest of his land(?)
Nevada votes in shutting grazing rights down permanently.
How Wouldn’t this force people out of business? For what purpose? A tortoise that feeds on cow manure?
Nope. Not buying it. BLM can put the parcel together and lease rights for minerals/energy, with appropriate kickbacks to pols like Reid.
Someone wants the land, probably including Bundy’s.