The Bureau of Land Management has obtained several court orders over the past two decades requiring the rancher Cliven Bundy to remove the cows that have been illegally grazing in the beautiful Gold Butte area just south of Mesquite, Nev. The cows, though, remain on our public land.
The BLM has a duty to manage our public lands in the public interest. But the agency abandoned that responsibility to the public and the land entrusted to it by the American people when it decided on April 12 to halt its roundup of trespassing cattle due to threats of violence from an armed mob.
Please help us send a powerful message to the Department of the Interior to uphold its legal and moral responsibility to protect our public land. Management of these lands -- which are vital for wildlife and healthy ecosystems -- shouldn't be dictated by armed thugs and threats of violence but by what's right and what the law says and what the American people expect.
Secretary Jewell,
I am writing today to urge you to do your duty and protect public land in Nevada.
[Your comment will be added here]
I was disappointed in the Bureau of Land Management's handling of the trespass cattle in Gold Butte, Nev. By abandoning its efforts to round up the cows the BLM has set a dangerous precedent that essentially says it will pick and choose who has to follow federal laws and who will be rewarded for violating them. You have opened up the door for every business to stop paying for the water, wood, grass and minerals they take from our public lands.
The BLM has a legal duty to remove trespass cattle from the land and end the harm that livestock grazing is causing to the Gold Butte area. You also have a moral responsibility to not let armed thugs and threats of violence seize hundreds of thousands of acres of public land for their own.
The BLM's vast holdings provide a broad range of habitats that are critically important for numerous sensitive, threatened and endangered species. They include grasslands, deserts, wetlands, forests and mountains as well as wild rivers and springs that emanate on and flow across these lands.
I will be watching the Gold Butte situation very closely. I urge you to step up and fulfill your duty to protect these lands that have been entrusted to you by the American people.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
