EDITORIAL: At the time, they said he was crazy - Opinion

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Jun. 11, 2008
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

EDITORIAL: At the time, they said he was crazy

Government loses case involving late Nevada rancher

Back in the 1980s, it became an article of faith among well-meaning "environmentalists" that grazing cattle on arid Western lands serves to "destroy fragile ecosystems."

Western ranchers presented evidence that desert plants developed in an ecosystem that needs large ungulate grazers to churn their seeds into the soil, to fertilize wetlands, to carry moisture into arid valleys and thus benefit tortoise populations -- which is why more tortoises are found on grazed land than ungrazed.

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The ranchers argued that grazing prevents the buildup of excess tinder that can make range fires more frequent and severe, that game species profit from the ranchers' water improvements and efforts at predator control.

The forces seeking to remove mankind from the land scoffed at such arguments. They canceled grazing "permits" left and right.

The U.S. Forest Service ordered that Nevada rancher and private property rights advocate Wayne Hage, in one example, could use "only hand tools" to trim back trees clogging the canals that had brought water to his 125-year-old, 700,000-acre Pine Creek Ranch in central Nevada.

In 1991, Wayne Hage sued. On Friday, U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Loren A. Smith ruled Mr. Hage was right, and the Forest Service was wrong.

The judge awarded more than $4.2 million to the plaintiffs, ruling the U.S. Forest Service committed an unconstitutional "taking" of his water rights during their decades-long dispute over livestock grazing.

Judge Smith also ordered the government to pay back interest to the family of a man considered one of the leaders of the 1980s "Sagebrush Rebellion" -- an additional $4.4 million. And the government is also ordered to pay the Hage family's legal costs -- another $4 million.

"The hand tools requirement prevented all effective ditch maintenance, as it cannot be seriously argued that the work normally done by caterpillars and back hoes could be accomplished with hand tools over thousands of acres," the judge wrote. The implementation of the hand tools requirement "was based solely on hostility to plaintiffs," the judge ruled.

"It sends a pretty important message to the government that if you screw with a small ranching family and put them out of business, you have to pay big bucks," exults Lyman "Ladd" Bedford, a San Francisco-based lawyer who has argued the case since Hage first filed his lawsuit, 17 years ago.

Does it?

It would be nice to ask Mr. Hage whether he feels vindicated. We can't. He's dead.

The 17-year federal lawsuit took longer to prevail than either Mr. Hage -- who died in 2006 -- or his widow, the late former U.S. Rep. Helen Chenoweth-Hage of Idaho, could wait.

And while $4 million or $8 million sounds like a lot of money, they're notably smaller sums than that $28 million Mr. Hage sought -- and that was in 1991 dollars.

That leads Cliven Bundy -- the last active cattle rancher in Clark County, who has fought his own battles with federal bureaucrats trying to drive him and his cattle off the Mesquite allotment by challenging both his grazing and his water rights -- to question just how big a "win" Friday's ruling really is.

"I don't think he gained anything there," said Mr. Bundy Tuesday afternoon. "I think they just stole his water for a cheap price."

Mr. Hage's daughter, Ramona Morrison, is more optimistic.

"Whether it's a permanent or a temporary taking is not clear" -- a matter that may be cleared up in a post-trial conference Friday, says Mrs. Morrison. "At the time, Dad was told he was crazy to try and do this, so to come out with this kind of a ruling after all this time, while we were not surprised that there was compensation, is quite remarkable. ... Dad plowed a trail through 6 feet of snow with this case."

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Please enter your name Name: Please enter your email Email: Please enter a comment COMMENTS : (word count limit is 300) You have reached the maximum number of words allowed Current Word Count: Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background. moe wrote on June 11, 2008 01:35 PM: 17 years? so who won? the government did. the guy's dead. Dennis #1 wrote on June 11, 2008 08:30 AM: The RJ and the readers would be well served to read HR 2421 IH which was introduced into the House on May 22, 2007. While there may not have been significant progress on this bill to this point, should it move forward and pass both house and senate, the Hage case will be a drop of water in the ocean in regards to meaningful action. The lefty loonies and their eviro whackos want to take total control over ALL water in the US. But it will be best if all investigate this one on their own and get their own ideas. It scares the hell out of me timinator wrote on June 11, 2008 08:09 AM: Wayne Hage was an American hero. He and Dick Carver from Nye County defined the sagebrush rebellion against unconstitutional federal tyranny during the early 1990's. It good to see at least a modicum of justice meted out here. Hopefully, this will give the govbots pause before they attempt any more power plays like that. But I doubt it... Jon H. wrote on June 11, 2008 07:41 AM: Yes, this is more evidence of a true class war going on in this country. But it is not racial in nature, it is based on power. The two classes are the Public Sector and the Private Sector. The Private and Public sector operate under different sets of laws, and Equal under the Law does not apply. The public sector does what it wants, and the only recourse the private sector has is the public sector courts. They take your land, and murder you if you resist, yet no public sector criminal will ever be prosecuted. They take your children, and murder you if you resist, yet no public sector criminal will ever be prosecuted. The public sector is not the servant of the people they are the masters. The public sector is best thought of as parasites on a mostly dumb private sector host. Buba wrote on June 11, 2008 07:37 AM: Seventeen years. The feds must be laughing their arses off. The people who did this pay nothing and still receive their retirement checks. They cost the U.S. tax payer sixteen million dollars. The government was not punished the taxpayer was punished. Buba wrote on June 11, 2008 07:28 AM: Seventeen years. The feds must be laughing their arses off. The people who did this pay nothing and still receive their retirement checks. They cost the U.S. tax payer sixteen million dollars. All government was not punished the taxpayer was punished. Mike Lee wrote on June 11, 2008 06:25 AM: Government is a criminal conspiracy against the rest of us. Helen Weils wrote on June 11, 2008 06:19 AM: The liberal and whacko environmentalists have taken us to the brink of extinction with their radical demands. Mexico is paying $2 a gallon for gas while we are paying $5.00 a gallon for diesal. They are a bunch of idiots and Obama is their Mr. Taxman leader. God help us all! Railroad Bill wrote on June 11, 2008 05:03 AM: Okay, what is the LVRJ's solution for protecting the environment? Leave it in the hands of big business? Yeah, right. Oh, I'm sorry. It is not politically correct to say we have a problem with pollution or the environment. Just like when Dick Cheney said if we occupied Iraq, a barrel of oil would cost $20 a barrel!