 In an action that Eureka County,
Nevada officials are calling unethical, the U.S. Forest
Service appears to be attempting to influence a State of
Nevada legal officer in state water hearings. |
|
| The
USFS paid to have a public appeal published in at least
two newspapers -- the Death Valley Gazette and
the Tonopah Times Bonanza. Assistant U.S. Forest Service Supervisor
Monica Schwalbach, in the published ad, called for the
State of Nevada to "integrate contemporary values
with antiquated laws" and -- after a long recitation
of the federal agency's position in the
currently-recessed Monitor Valley Water Hearings --
solicited letters to State Water Engineer Mike
Turnipseed. Three federal attorneys and a host of
supporting staff already represent the USFS in the
hearings. "The important thing," says
Schwalbach's ad, "is that the people of Nevada do
believe it is important to keep the water in the streams
so that our fish have a place to live and our deer, birds
and butterflies have a place to drink." The letter then says that people care about
ranchers too, but believe that water is "not for the
single dominant use of livestock grazing." Schwalbach called upon people to write
Turnipseed and express their views regarding water. Wild game and fish have flourished and |
coexisted with
agriculture since the introduction of livestock in
Nevada. But in recent years the U.S. Forest Service has
sought to use those concerns to nullify long-recognized
private property rights on federal land, legal rights in
many cases established by private usage even before the
USFS was established. |
