Westerners and Washington have long been at odds. The Feds administer more than half the land in several Western states, a situation many find intolerable. Now, some locals have decided to force the issue with threats of violence. In Nevada, “There are some areas we don’t go in anymore,” says the BLM’s Michelle Barret.
Things have gotten so dangerous that the BLM office in Idaho issued war-zone guidelines to rangers last month: stay in radio contact, travel in pairs, plan escape routes. In Nevada, Forest Service employees now carry how-to-cope cards in case of arrest by local officials. Last week, the Feds offered $25,000 for information about the Carson City bombing. But the locals couldn’t care less. Cliven Bundy, a rancher in Bunkerville, Nev., who owes $30,000 for grazing his cattle on federal land, says he’ll go right on ignoring the Feds. “I’ll do whatever it takes-that’s my word,” he says. Them’s fighting words.
