Guinn, Gibbons urge Shovel Brigade to show restraint

Martin Griffith

Friday, June 30, 2000 | 4:20 a.m.

RENO, Nev. - Nevada's top two Republican elected officials have urged restraint at next week's citizens' rally aimed at reclaiming a remote dirt road in Elko County.

Gov. Kenny Guinn and Rep. Jim Gibbons urged Shovel Brigade members to avoid violence or confrontation when they gather over the Fourth of July holiday near Jarbidge to reopen the washed-out road with shovels.

The 1.5-mile road leading to a wilderness trailhead near the Idaho border has come to symbolize some rural westerners' tensions over federal control of public land.

The road has been closed since 1995 when floods washed it out. Federal authorities have refused efforts to reopen it, fearing the work will damage the nearby stream that is home to the threatened bull trout.

"I would ask people to use their good judgment and not go against the government," Guinn said. "I hope people let the process with the federal government work."

Guinn said he's optimistic the road will be reopened by the Forest Service under a tentative settlement reached between the agency and Elko County commissioners, who postponed approving the compromise until after July 4.

Gibbons also urged support of the settlement, calling it "a win-win situation."

He said the Shovel Brigade has a right to protest, but urged members not to break federal environmental laws.

"I would not want the government to overreact to their presence or the Shovel Brigade to incur any punitive federal action against them on the basis of anything they might do," Gibbons said.

Forest Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials said they fear rocks and debris removed by protesters from the road will end up in the adjacent Jarbidge River.

The agencies think the project could cause irreparable harm to the bull trout, and will check for violations of the Endangered Species Act and Clean Water Act afterward.

Even though a federal judge rejected the government's attempt to halt the event, protesters still can be prosecuted for any legal violations, federal officials warned.

Federal personnel will not be at the scene.

"The judge says they have a right to go there, but if they break the law they have a right to be punished," said wildlife service spokeswoman Randi Thompson.

But Shovel Brigade spokesman Ed Dahl said the protest is largely symbolic and protesters do not intend to violate federal laws by placing material in the river or harming the bull trout.

"I don't see any confrontation," he said. "It will be just people power."

In a letter sent to Shovel Brigade trustees this week, group president Demar Dahl said he intends to reopen the road with as little environmental impact as possible.

"The Brigade will remove the dirt, rocks, trees and debris put there by the Forest Service to make the road impassable," he wrote.

Law enforcement authorities worry about the potential for conflict with environmental and militia groups drawn to the protest.

"At this point, we're not sure what to expect," said Nancy Howell, a spokeswoman for the Twin Fall County sheriff's office in Idaho.

At least a dozen members of an environmental group calling itself the Great Old Broads for Wilderness plan to show up.

The group "will not stand for a bunch of macho guys with shovels destroying a stream essential for bull trout habitat," said spokeswoman Susan Tixier.

Guinn said he has spoken with federal officials and is concerned about the safety of those attending the rally.

If too many gather in tiny Jarbidge, firefighters would have difficulty passing through narrow canyons in an emergency such as a forest fire, he said.