FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                         ENR
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1995                        (202) 514-2008
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888

      FEDERAL COURT REAFFIRMS U.S. OWNERSHIP OF PUBLIC LANDS

               STRIKES DOWN COUNTY SUPREMACY THEORY


WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Rejecting a claim of "county supremacy", a
federal judge in Nevada has upheld United States' ownership and
management of national forests and other public lands.

     In an October 5 decision in U.S. v. Gardner, U.S. District
Judge David W. Hagen ordered rancher Cliff Gardner, a self-styled
participant in the "Sagebrush Rebellion", to remove his cattle
from Forest Service lands in Elko County, Nevada within 20 days
and to pay for his illegal use of these lands.  The judge
rejected Gardner's claims that Nevada, rather than the United
States, owned the public lands in that state, saying that under
"unambiguous Supreme Court precedent, there can be no reasonable
doubt that the National Forests...are the property of the United
States and rightfully managed by the Forest Service."

     Gardner's claims were virtually identical to those made by a
number of counties in the West -- including Nye County, Nevada --
which have challenged federal control of public lands.  In a
separate case, the government sued Nye County on March 8 to end
the county's threats against federal land managers and other
challenges to its land management authority.       

     "We are very pleased by the court's decision.  As we have
said all along, these lands are public lands to be owned and
managed for all Americans.  We hope this decision will help put
to rest baseless challenges to sensible land management policy,"
said Lois J. Schiffer, Assistant Attorney General for the
Environment and Natural Resources Division.

     "This decision is consistent with other recent court
decisions," said Kathryn Landreth, United States Attorney for the
District of Nevada.  "It clearly reaffirms that the United States
owns and has the right to manage the public lands."

                              -MORE-
     The United States filed a civil trespass action against
Gardner on June 21, 1995.  Since May of 1994,  Gardner has been
illegally grazing his cattle on the Humboldt National Forest in
Nevada, despite repeated requests by Forest Service land managers
to stop.  Gardner defended his action by claiming that the United
States neither owned the land nor had the authority to require
permits for the land on which their cattle were grazing.

     The court disagreed, finding that "the Gardners have no
valid argument that the United States does not own the land," and
that "similarly without merit is the Gardners' assertion that the
United States has no authority to retain public lands in its
possession."  In addition to removing his cattle, Gardner was
ordered to pay $7,000 in unauthorized grazing use fees. 

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