U.S. attorney issues stern warning in national forest road dispute

RENO - The U.S. attorney in Nevada is warning organizers of a Fourth of July protest in Elko County that the ''Shovel Brigade'' will break a series of federal laws if it rebuilds a national forest road near threatened trout.

Shovel Brigade President Demar Dahl insisted Thursday that he is moving ahead with plans to reclaim the road at the Independence Day rally. Thousands of Westerners upset about federal land policies are expected to converge on the tiny northeast Nevada town of Jarbidge for the road's reopening.

Dahl, an Elko rancher who ran unsuccessfully as a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in 1992, said the peaceful protest will be held hundreds of yards from the bull trout's home in the Jarbidge River and he doesn't expect any federal violations.

He acknowledged, however, the federal government continues to reject the county's claim that the road within the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest is the property of Elko County.

Federal prosecutors, taking their strongest stand in months in the ongoing dispute, said any offenders will face the threat of jail time and substantial fines.

''We are going to enforce the law,'' Assistant U.S. Attorney Howard Zlotnick said Thursday from Las Vegas.

''He can engage in this activity at his peril,'' Zlotnick said of Dahl.

U.S. Attorney Kathryn Landreth, chief federal prosecutor in Nevada, raised the possibility of criminal prosecutions in a letter to Dahl about his plans to ''perform this construction without regard to the federal regulations that apply to this activity.''

She said organizers must seek federal permits ''before attempting to perform any earth disturbing activity on or near the South Canyon Road.

''Failure to do so will expose the Shovel Brigade and its individual officers, directors and members to the risk of criminal and civil sanctions,'' she wrote in the June 9 letter obtained by The Associated Press.

The Endangered Species Act, Clean Water Act and National Environmental Policy Act are among the laws that could be violated if the road rebuilding goes forward as advertised, Landreth said.

Criminal penalties could include up to three years in prison and fines of $50,000 per day of violation, she noted.

If the protesters fail to seek the necessary federal permits or engage in ''any construction, reconstruction or earth disturbing activities on the South Canyon Road, the United States will seek any and all sanctions and remedies available to it under law,'' Landreth said.

She also sent organizers a copy of an application form for the special use permit she said they must obtain from the Forest Service to work on the road, which runs along the Jarbidge River.

''The United States position is, and has been, that the South Canyon Road is located on public lands managed by the United States Forest Service and that it may be restored only after compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act and other applicable federal laws and regulations,'' Landreth said.

Elko County and the Justice Department, representing the Forest Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services, are in federal court-ordered mediation in a running dispute over who owns the washed out road and whether reconstruction work would harm the threatened bull trout by disturbing the stream bed or adding too much silt to the river.

The government contends rebuilding the road within the boundaries of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest would jeopardize the survival of the southernmost surviving population of the fish in the Lower 48 states.

But Elko County doesn't recognize federal jurisdiction of the road, arguing it was there long before the national forest was established in the early 1900s.

The Shovel Brigade got its name in October when citizens across the West shipped more than 10,000 shovels to a parade in Elko to voice their opposition to federal land management policies.

Dahl said the work party planned on the Fourth of July won't get anywhere near the river or the threatened fish.

He said the plan is to work in an area where the Forest Service dumped dirt and rocks to close off the road about 900 feet from where it washed out in 1995.

Therefore, Dahl said they don't need a permit to comply with Clean Water Act.

''There was a misunderstanding. We are not going to be in the water,'' Dahl said.

Dahl said it would be a waste of time to apply for a special use permit.

''Her position is it is a Forest Service road. Our position is it is a county road,'' he said.

''We, with some certainty believe we would be denied if we applied for a permit. We also don't believe we should be required to have a permit from them to work on a county road,'' he said.

U.S. District Judge David Hagen ordered mediation late last year after Landreth obtained a temporary restraining order blocking a similar work party from plans to reconstruct the road in October.

Another mediation meeting is scheduled Tuesday.