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Nevada ranch families involved in a grazing dispute with the BLM took their case to Carson City last spring, and now they are taking it all the way to Washington, D.C.

In doing so, they will likely be the first Americans ever to complete a coast-to-coast ride on horseback. It’s a monumental effort, matched by the urgency and importance of the messages they will be carrying.

The Grass March/Cowboy Express will start in the surf of Northern California Friday morning and cross nearly 3,000 miles of turf on its way to the Capitol.

Their mission, in part, is to deliver petitions seeking relief from public land regulations after federal administrators curtailed grazing because of drought conditions. Additional complaints include abuses of the Endangered Species Act, creation of additional wilderness areas, failure to manage wild horse populations, and the latest federal foray: acquisition of state water rights.

County Commissioner Grant Gerber, a longtime advocate of public land access, describes the plight of ranchers as an example of government monopoly of resources. We were in disbelief when former Free Press publisher Rex Steninger reported that the BLM order affected not only public land, but also the many square miles of private land owned by ranch families in central Nevada.