Judge Refuses to Block Rally by ‘Shovel Brigade’

LAS VEGAS —  Plans for a July 4 protest over federal control of rural lands gathered momentum Thursday after a judge refused to stop a rally in rugged northern Nevada.

U.S. District Judge Philip Pro rejected a request by the U.S. attorney’s office for a restraining order to halt the protest over a closed U.S. Forest Service road, saying he feared that it would stifle free-speech rights.

Besides, he said, plans for the rally are too far along to effectively block it, with anti-government protesters from as far away as Florida and Maine already en route to the hamlet of Jarbidge, near the Idaho border.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Steve Myhre said the rally “is an absolute recipe for disaster. [Organizers] have no control. We don’t know who else is going to show up.”

Pro instructed organizers of the protest group, known as the Shovel Brigade, to use “common sense” in carrying out their protest against the Forest Service.

“Let me make this as clear as I possibly can,” Pro told attorneys in a telephone conference call from his Las Vegas courtroom. His refusal to block the rally, he said, “shouldn’t be misconstrued as an approval by the court of any intended violation of trespass laws” or federal environmental protection laws.

“It needs to be understood,” he said, that “if they violate statutes, criminal and civil penalties can be levied against them.”

And he said that, even without a court order to block the rally, the government can still make good on its promise to prosecute anyone who violates the law.

Grant Gerber, an attorney representing the Shovel Brigade, hailed the judge’s ruling Thursday. “The threats and intimidation by the federal government in preventing people from exercising their 1st Amendment rights . . . have now been declared by a federal judge as not appropriate,” he said. “Now, we can exercise those rights.”

The rally’s purpose, its organizers say, is to dismantle an earthen roadblock at the top of a narrow, dirt Forest Service road that leads to the bottom of a canyon wilderness area and a river that carries bull trout, listed as a threatened species.

To that end, the Shovel Brigade already has received more than 12,000 shovels from sympathizers around the country with which to attack the roadblock.

The brigade argues that the road belongs to the county, not the federal government, and needs to be opened immediately for sake of fire protection.

Demar Dahl, who heads the group, said members are committed to removing the roadblock, regardless of arrest threats. “We’re going to open our county road,” he said. “I don’t know what their authority would be.”

Because of the judge’s ruling, Dahl said, “people will feel a lot more comfortable about being there. It’s a great day for those of us who live in the West and feel the federal government tells us too much about what is best for us.”

The significance of the protest has grown far beyond the issue of fire protection, with protesters saying the road closure symbolizes the federal government’s heightened efforts to close forests, especially with the Clinton administration’s new, conservation-oriented roadless-forests initiative.

The road, used by locals since the 19th century, was claimed by the U.S. Forest Service in 1906. In 1998, the agency blocked local efforts to repair a washed-out section because they feared construction runoff could damage the fish’s habitat.

Last week, parties in the dispute completed mediation talks to resolve the question of road repair and ownership. Representatives of each side proposed that the federal government conduct environmental studies to determine if a new road can be built without damaging the river--and, if so, that the county be granted permanent easement rights.

But after a heated public meeting Wednesday night thick with anti-federal government sentiment, Elko County commissioners refused to adopt the proposal, deciding instead to consider the matter after the rally, scheduled for Monday and Tuesday.

Erin O’Conner, a spokeswoman for the Forest Service, said its rangers are not yet ready to discuss what actions they’ll take at the rally.

She said that even if the Shovel Brigade does not try to dismantle the roadblock, the protesters’ mere presence there will be trespassing because the group did not seek a permit to gather, as is required.

Elko County Undersheriff Steve Bishop said the Forest Service has been “pretty much noncommittal on what they’re going to do,” but added: “We don’t feel they’re going to have a strong presence there to try to stop it.”

He said he has advised forest rangers not to wear their green uniforms or travel the area in their marked vehicles, for fear those actions could trigger outbursts of anger--or worse.

Meanwhile, the prospect of thousands of people showing up in tiny Jarbidge--population 30--has local law enforcement officials scrambling to muster their own forces.

The Elko County Sheriff’s Department, with 31 deputies, could assign only 12 to Jarbidge, Bishop said. Additionally, the Nevada Highway Patrol will dispatch officers to the area for traffic control, and two sheriff’s departments a few miles away in Idaho--where protesters will use a private makeshift campground as a staging ground--are mobilizing as well.

Among his concerns, Bishop said, is that radical environmentalists will also show up to protest against the Shovel Brigade.

“I wish I could say it’s going to be a nice picnic and a few people will use one of the 12,000 shovels and symbolically scoop up a piece of dirt, and everybody goes away happy,” he said. “We’re hoping for the best but expecting the worst.”