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By: Robert Janis
A Sagebrush Rebellion
Swirling through Western States
For years now people involved with off-road
riding have been concerned about access to
public land. They simply want to be able to go
to a national park or lands managed by the
Bureau of Land Management to ride their ATVs and
enjoy the scenery. To many of these
recreationists it doesn’t matter who manages the
land as long as they can get to that trail or
road they have been hearing about.
However,in the western states public access is
just one issue in an overall battle on who has
jurisdiction over the land--the counties and
states or the federal government. When you look
at statistics on the percentage of a western
state’s lands that are actually controlled by
the federal government, it may astound you. For
example, did you know that 84.5 percent of
Nevada is not controlled by Nevada? It is under
the jurisdiction of the federal government.
As far as other western states are concerned,
the feds control 69.1 percent of Alaska, 57.4
percent of Utah, 53.1 percent of Oregon, 50.2
percent of Idaho, 48.1 percent of Arizona, 45.3
percent of California, and on and on. Check out
the map and article at
www.bigthink.com/Ideas/21343.
Obviously, people who live in the western states
are angry, and many are rebelling. There’s a
name for this discontent. It’s called the
Sagebrush Rebellion, and these people are
fighting to take their land back.
Michael Swenson is executive director of Utah
Shared Access Alliance (USA-ALL) and one of the
initial organizers of the Sagebrush Rebellion in
Utah. “We have been seeing a resurgence
beginning in 2008 or 2009,” he began. “It’s all
over the west. Not just in Utah. Folks are fed
up with the tyrannical type control that the
federal government has put on citizens
concerning the management of public land.”
According to Swenson, it all started in Utah
with a rally in August 2009 attended by 3,000 to
4,000 people who gathered in downtown Salt Lake
City, the capital of Utah. “The folks were of
all types, not just off-roaders, although they
were the most predominant group represented.
There were also miners and loggers, mountain
bikers, photographers, horseback riders,
cattlemen. All types of OHV and recreational
vehicles were there.” It was followed by another
rally in August 2010 attended by more than 5,000
people. Another rally is scheduled for August,
2011.
During the years the movement has grown, said
Swenson. Today, groups that are part of the
movement in Utah include the Utah Shared Access
Alliance, which Swenson said is the driving
force. He noted that there are many local OHV
and Jeep clubs as well as the Utah Farm Bureau
Federation, Utah Mining Association, Utah
Woolgrowers Association, Utah Cattlemen’s
Association, the Utah Multiple Use Coalition
including the rural electric, the rural
telephone companies and the Rural Water Users
Association. “We are a broad-based group who
want to see better multiple use of the land.”
Swenson said that the movement has mobilized its
following through Internet websites, social
media, and more. “When events are occurring, we
have radio, television and billboard ads
promoting them and informing people how they can
get involved.”
The movement’s plans now are to target and lobby
the federal government and local legislatures.
“We have worked with county commissioners and
state legislatures in other states, not just in
Utah. States have tools at their disposal if
they are willing to stand up. “In Utah we have
taken some very aggressive steps. We’ve passed
laws and resolutions; there have been court
suits that we and others have engaged in. They
are not just non-government organizations, but
also local governments including counties and
states that are engaged in litigations. And,
there have been some successes.” The goal, said
Swenson, is to allow the states to manage the
public lands within their own borders.
One Utah legislator who has been an aggressive
Sagebrush rebel is Representative Mike Noel. He
and a gentleman named Chris Brimhall developed
the first rally and created Take Back Utah. Noel
raised $15,000 from the multiple use community
to stage the rally at the capitol. He also got
the governor of Utah and 20 state legislators as
well as two U.S. senators and two
representatives to attend the 2009 and 2010
events. He has been involved in the fight for
about 13 years. He entered the battle when the
Bureau of Land Management and Kane County, Utah
tried to sell off grazing permits to the Grand
Canyon Trust, who then planned to retire the
permits, thus, in general, ending grazing on
lands administered by the BLM. It was also about
that time that Kane Country tried to shut down
access to public roads. “I and another Kane
County rancher sued the county commissioners and
got a court injunction stopping them from
closing down the roads,” said Noel. “I then
started an organization called People for the
U.S.A. in three different counties of the state
to engage in the battle,” he said. In 2001 he
won his seat in the Utah State Legislature and
has been fighting ever since to keep roads open.
According to Noel, perhaps the best tactic to
stop the federal government from managing lands
in a state is through litigation. “The best way
to make head way is to get judicial validation,”
he said. “That is what we are doing, and we are
being successful.” Noel said that he has been
working closely with the Kane County
Commissioners. “They were the only group that
was willing to stand up and fight,” said Noel.
He noted that he and the commissioners have won
two big cases in the 10th U.S. Circuit Court. He
added that he is helping to get another case
started in Garfield and in other counties
throughout Utah.
He also said that he has enlisted the support of
Utah’s governor, Gary R. Herbert, and he added
that the governor is getting engaged. “We’ve
gotten a bill through this year’s legislature
that gives two more attorneys to the Attorney
General’s office and two more attorney ‘types’
into the Public Land Office of the
Constitutional Defense Council.” He added that
the legislature has also permitted the spending
of $500,000 to finance litigations. “Now we are
going to take on all these road issues, and we
will file a massive quiet title action against
the federal government. So, the state, as a
sovereign, has stepped into the battle along
with the counties,” he said.
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