Rebels without a
case
Nineteen months after Nye
County, Nev., County Commissioner Dick Carver challenged federal
authority by bulldozing a road into the Toiyabe National Forest,
the government has pushed back. On March 14, a U.S. District Court
in Las Vegas struck down a controversial Nye County ordinance
claiming ownership and management authority over Forest Service and
Bureau of Land Management lands.
Public lands are
“owned by all Americans, to be managed by the United States,” said
Attorney General Janet Reno. “The court made it clear that Nye and
other counties are no exception to this rule.”
As if to punctuate the decision, the Idaho
Supreme Court ruled a day later that a similar ordinance, passed by
Boundary County’s commissioners, is also unconstitutional (HCN,
1/23/95).
The rulings undermine the claims of
so-called “county movement” advocates. More than 30 counties in the
West have passed ordinances claiming control or ownership over
federal lands in their jurisdictions.
Carver,
however, maintains that the Nye County ruling is actually a victory
because of the national publicity the lawsuit generated and because
“… all we wanted was a seat at the table” with the federal land
agencies. But Sierra Club spokeswoman Rose Strickland of Reno,
Nev., says, “They (Nye County) have always had a seat at the table.
The real game on the board is an essential fight over who controls,
not owns, the federal lands.”
Nye County
officials say they have already spent approximately $70,000 to
defend the county and, at this time, do not plan to appeal. And
since their defeat, the county has begun negotiating in good faith
with the BLM, says Ann Morgan, BLM state director for
Nevada.
* Rick
Keister
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Rebels without a case.
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