Second Jarbidge suit resolved

Friday, April 6, 2001 | 11 a.m.

A second lawsuit involving a fight over a dirt road in Elko County that became a national battleground over federal land policies and the protection of the threatened bull trout has been resolved, the U.S. attorney's office said.

The settlement, which could be approved by a federal judge as early as April 30, comes on the heels of an agreement being reached over an older lawsuit stemming from the South Canyon Road issue.

That matter, which could come before a judge as early as April 16, was approved this week by the U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Department of Interior Fish and Wildlife and the Environmental Protection Agency to settle a 1999 lawsuit involving the United States and Elko County.

The other suit, filed last year, involved a group of citizens, known as the Shovel Brigade, who wanted to rebuild the washed-out dirt road near the Jarbidge River, a habitat for the threatened bull trout.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Blaine Welsh in Las Vegas said Thursday that negotiations in that suit hit a snag Monday when changes were requested by the Shovel Brigade. Those proposed changes were dropped Tuesday and, during a conference call Wednesday, the matter was resolved, Welsh said.

The Elko County Commission has approved the settlement between the county and the government. It is scheduled to vote on the Shovel Brigade/government settlement during its April 18 meeting, Welsh said.

Under terms of the agreements the United States will not contest Elko County's claim to a right of way on the road and the county will obtain Forest Service authorization and permits before it reconstructs or repairs the road -- a move that should provide safeguards to protect the threatened fish.

In June the U.S. attorney's office warned the Shovel Brigade, which included a number of Las Vegans, that it would be breaking a series of federal laws if it rebuilt the road in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest as part of its Fourth of July protest event.

The issue demonstrated that thousands of Westerners were upset over federal land policies.