Owyhee Sheriff, Blm Battle Over Enforcement Of The Law County Officials Say Land Decisions Should Be Up To Them

Owyhee County Sheriff Gary Aman wants to make a federal case out of Bureau of Land Management ranger patrols in his county.

He does not believe BLM rangers have authority to make arrests, and the mild-mannered Aman, 38, has even threatened to use his arresting powers on rangers who violate the civil rights of Owyhee County residents.

Yet when he discovered 300 marijuana plants on public land last week, among the first people he invited to share in the bust was Lee Kliman, a BLM ranger from Boise.

Kliman and Aman illustrate the daily frustrations of being caught in the middle of an ideological battle over who controls 5.5 million acres of public land in southwestern Idaho. Aman and other county officials say they, not federal land managers, should set policies for grazing, recreation and other land-use issues. Kliman said Congress has given the BLM authority to enforce a wide range of laws from federal trespass to littering and vandalism.

Both find support for their positions in the Constitution. Kliman cites Article 4, Section 3, which authorizes Congress to make rules and regulations to protect federal property. Aman cites the 10th Amendment, which states that powers not specifically reserved by the federal government lie with the state or the people.

In Owyhee County, more than local control is at issue. To many in Idaho’s largest county, the rangers are just part of the perceived squeezing of rural Owyhee by urban Boise.

The BLM has no offices in Owyhee County and its land staff crosses the Snake River from Boise, just like the urban hikers, hunters, sightseers and campers who are streaming into the Owyhee Mountains in growing numbers. Most of the pressure to repair overgrazed land and streambanks comes from outside the county and often it is the rangers who have to tell a rancher to remove his cattle.

The BLM has proposed a 33 percent grazing cutback on much of the public lands, motorized traffic faces new regulations and the listing of the Bruneau Hot Springs Snail threatens to limit irrigation farming.

“In these land-use issues, the BLM is violating people’s civil rights,” Aman said.

But federal laws like the Taylor Grazing Act, the Federal Land Management Planning Act and the Endangered Species Act, give final say to federal bureaucrats.

“When it comes to enforcement the sheriff wants to be in the loop and that is reasonable,” Kliman said. “The BLM is responsible to work with the public. That’s what were striving to do, to work with the public and local agencies and to treat them fairly.”