Ranchers angry about a Bureau of Land Management plan to help save the endangered desert tortoise say it sounds a death knell for cattle grazing on federal land in southern Nevada.
Ranchers who attended a BLM advisory council meeting Thursday said they were shocked to learn that grazing privileges may only be allowed on certain ranges from March 1 through June 14 next year to protect the tortoises.Five ranchers have already been ordered to remove 248 head of cattle from federal land during the same period this year, and two Cedar City ranchers will not be allowed to graze some 2,000 sheep on the Nevada range.
Most ranchers, though, were given a one-year reprieve from this year's moratorium, although they expect the moratorium will be short-lived.
"I'm screaming as loud as I can scream. As far as I'm concerned, I'm not coming off the range," rancher Cliven Bundy said during a break in the meeting.
Bundy, a Mesquite cattleman, said a steering committee that recommended the grazing restrictions was stacked in favor of environmentalists, while ranchers, hunters and off-road vehicle enthusiasts were outnumbered.
He said cattle grazing had done little to further endanger the desert tortoise.
"This old tortoise is a tough little animal, and we're going to protect him to death with management," Bundy said.
The reptiles have been protected under the Endangered Species Act since April 1990 because of declining numbers, loss of habitat to urban growth and a respiratory disease that has reduced their population.
But some plans to protect tortoises, such as grazing restrictions, are just beginning to take effect.
Federal officials say this year's test period will show whether grazing affects tortoises by destroying forage or by cattle trampling the reptiles.