Gibbons says animosity toward feds in Nevada to be expected

Scott Sonner

Tuesday, Nov. 30, 1999 | 9:29 a.m.

RENO, Nev. - The Sagebrush Rebellion is alive and well in Nevada, where animosity toward the federal government should be expected because the feds control nearly 90 percent of the land, says Rep. Jim Gibbons.

A dispute over a national forest road and protection of a threatened fish in Elko County is just the latest sign of the ongoing fight over local property rights, Gibbons, R-Nev., said Monday.

The Sagebrush Rebellion was named after a number of private and county activists who began asserting in the late 1970s that the federal government had no right to dictate management of lands in Nevada.

"There are always those people fenced in, hemmed in, frustrated by the federal government, especially by decisions that are not made locally - decisions that are made in Washington that don't take into consideration concurrent local history, local use, management practices that are in the best interest of people here rather than in Washington," Gibbons said

"There is always that underlying current of frustration. It's always going to be there," he told KOLO-TV.

Nevertheless, Gibbons said federal land managers and wildlife specialists should oversee the rebuilding of the road on the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest.

He said he believes there is a way to rebuild the washed-out South Canyon Road without jeopardizing the survival of the threatened bull trout.

"I think the compromise is to put the road in so it does not endanger the habitat for the endangered bull trout," Gibbons said.

"Let the Forest Service oversee how the road is put in. The Fish and Wildlife Service can be a part of it as well. Put it in and let people have access back to those campgrounds," he said.

Forest Service and Fish and Wildlife Service wildlife biologists say they've been unable to find a way to reconstruct the road without jeopardizing survival of the only remaining population of bull trout in Nevada, the southernmost segment in North America.

About 1 1/2 miles of the road washed out in a flood in 1995 and federal officials say it is subject to flooding every decade or so, increasing sedimentation of the clear, cold waters of the Jarbidge River that the bull trout needs to survive.

State wildlife officials disagree and Elko County officials argue that the Forest Service did more damage to the river by closing off the road. County officials maintain the Forest Service has no jurisdiction over the road because it was built before the national forest was established in the 1900s.

Gibbons and Rep. Helen Chenoweth, R-Idaho, held a congressional hearing in Elko earlier this month in response to heightened tensions over the controversy.

A federal judge issued a court order blocking any local work on the road last month when State Assemblyman John Carpenter threatened to reopen the road in defiance of the Forest Service and state and federal officials expressed concern a confrontation could turn violent.

Gloria Flora, supervisor of the national forest, announced her resignation in protest of the dispute, warning that many of her employees have been threatened and feel unsafe working in Nevada.

Gibbons said Monday that Congress is looking into allegations of threats made against federal workers in Nevada but that so far they have found no evidence.

"We're looking into whether or not there are in fact any instances of intimidation or threats," he said.

"Do we have people out there who threaten people? All the time," Gibbons said.

"We want to make darn sure the Department of Justice handles any activities which include life-threatening felonies or abuses which violate a person's civil rights," he said.

"If the Justice Department is not doing its job, then we need to look at the Justice Department. But let's bring out the facts," he said.

A Forest Service law officer complained to Flora two months ago that federal prosecutors in Nevada had declined to prosecute dozens of cases referred to it by the Forest Service since 1990 - at least 21 felonies and 52 misdemeanors involving more than 100 people.

"For whatever reasons, it appears the U.S. Attorney's office in Las Vegas does not understand that the lack of prosecution of these cases involving permittees or public officials has continued to fuel the open and flagrant lawless disregard for federal law and regulations in Nevada," Wayne Smith wrote in the Sept. 3 memo.