“Beware lest you lose the substance by grasping at the shadow.” – Aesop

Deception works well. Our reasoning profoundly complacent when necessary. Often deception, or misinformation, is quite beneficial too some. Although, often those individuals who remain on the receiving end of deception, their life difficult at best, in some cases life-threatening.

To America’s Wildlife, sadly, deception leads to their extinction. It is not until deception becomes overpowering, in another words effecting directly far more than just a few, that it is then noticed.

In this case we look at the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and what is refereed to as the “87 percent Deception.” Here’s the problem: There exists many decisions, monetary and land usage, based on this 87% of Nevada land that supposedly is Federal Lands, in which a majority belongs to the Bureau of Land Management. But the fact is, and millions upon millions of dollars later – THE STATEMENT UNTRUE!

Bureau of Land Management Deceptions Significant – Horses and Taxpayers Lose Again

BLM deceptions over this situation, like many other of their deceptions to bilk money from taxpayers, often turn into profit for favored friends, corporations, et al. Those involved are a select-few Special Interest groups, corporations, and welfare ranchers. These people use Public Lands to their advantage, most often illegal or through misrepresentation of fact.

“Sometime during the second Bush administration, BLM re-formatted its report and the GSA apparently stopped keeping an inventory of federally managed lands in the states accurately,” said State reference librarian Mitch Ison, who has tried to nail down an accurate current figure for references.“

“Unfortunately in 2001 the BLM revised its longstanding federal/state lands table … Explanations are provided; however, I still can’t make any sense of the table. . . The upshot is that no one, as best we can tell, knows how much public land there is in Nevada now,” Ison states.

The major problem still exists today, there is far less Federal Lands than what is stated as fact, by not only the BLM but everyone else that quotes the 87% figure as a truth. Deception? Absolutely, and for many reasons, that also include taxpayer money support. Fraud? Absolutely, as the deception has been found to be quite applicable and profitable by those in Nevada as well as those in the BLM, and also those who contract with the BLM.

Meanwhile, ol’ 87 percent Deception keeps rolling along – for money, for election rhetoric, for profit, for taxpayer stipends and grants, and it continues – The BLM political machinery in motion, nothing more than smoke and mirrors. So because BLM “says so”:

State of Nevada Board of Wildlife Commissioner/Commission Policy Number 33: “Even though approximately 87 percent of Nevada is public land, access to many, if not most, of the fishable waters of the State is controlled by private land.”

“Nevada Facts” posted on Nevada Legislature website: “87 percent of Nevada’s land area is federally controlled.”
U.S. Justice Department website/District of Nevada page: “Approximately 87 percent of Nevada’s lands are owned and managed by the federal government and its agencies, including the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, Department of Energy, U.S. Forest Service, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.”

U.S. Sen. Harry Reid news release/June 11, 2009: “As the federal government owns more than 87 percent of Nevada’s land—making it non-taxable—counties rely on PILT [payments in lieu of taxes] money for essential services and improvements.”

University of Nevada, Reno, proposal for shutdown of Department of Animal Biotechnology: “Key elements of the program can be preserved … to fulfill the rangeland management program which is important to ranchers, mines, and agencies responsible for the 87 percent of Nevada land held by the federal government.”

A Wikipedia figure demonstrates how easily false information can spread in this computer age. In its main Nevada entry, Wikipedia reports, “Approximately 86 percent of the state’s land is owned by the U.S federal government under various jurisdictions both civilian and military.” It attributes this information to a “Nevada Bureau of Land Management.”

There is no such agency, an error. . . But as a result of that entry, there are now dozens of websites such as Answers.com and WetlandResearch.com that have lifted the erroneous information from Wikipedia and also attribute it to the same non-existent agency. . . and on and on and on it goes, the costly deception. Time for Taxpayer’s to Wake Up!

Some people have actually wanted an updated figure, but plenty do not. There are those who have a political stake in keeping the number high, which may be why it has remained one of the state’s most persistent myths.

“It’s a way of characterizing the federal government seriously. They don’t want to find a lower figure. Going with low figures doesn’t serve their purpose,” Ison says.

This same situation becomes relevant when we discuss, for example, the Wild Horse and Burro Program, which is managed by the Bureau of Land Management; or the Welfare Ranching situation, extremely dishonest and extremely deceptive (BLM Speak is a well noted sarcasm directed toward BLM employee’s); or the oversight of mining operations for safety and honesty, but is dishonest, unsafe to the public, and deceptive – and Oh so much more. There is a lot of misinformation (BLM Speak) given to the public by BLM employee’s, and becoming more and more well-referenced, similar to the “87 percent Deception” that still continues today.

Bureau of Land Management has a long history of Deception – Decades:

U.S. Agency Accused of Inflating Land Appraisals
December 20, 2001 | TOM GORMAN, TIMES STAFF WRITER
The Bureau of Land Management has come under fire from government auditors and two watchdog groups for conducting real estate appraisals that benefit private landowners at the expense of taxpayers. Auditors for the Interior Department, which oversees the BLM, found that a senior official may have compromised the agency’s integrity by adjusting appraised land values so they would be “acceptable to landowners.”

Controversial Wild Horse and Burro Auction Called Off
October 8, 1998 | ANTONIO OLIVO, TIMES STAFF WRITER
Worried about negative publicity that comes with allegations that some of its federally protected animals have wound up in slaughterhouses, the Bureau of Land Management’s “Adopt-a-Horse or Burro Program” has indefinitely postponed an appearance at Pierce College. The adoption program, designed to find homes for roughly 42,000 wild horses and burros roaming in the western United States, canceled its plans to be at the college Oct.

As many Wild Horse Advocates know, and acknowledge, in 1998 there were in excess of 2,000 arrest warrants issued, Felonies, naming that number of BLM employees and private contractors with BLM, with 1,875 Misdemeanor Warrants ready to be issued as well – called off the night before by legislative person’s unknown, and by others in political office who were believed to be involved.

It is believed that today many of those named in arrest warrants at that time still are employed, within management and supervisory positions. . .

Probe of Wild Horse Slaughter Derailed
March 23, 1997 | MARTHA MENDOZA, ASSOCIATED PRESS
A federal grand jury has collected evidence that shows U.S. government officials allowed the slaughter of hundreds of wild horses taken from federal lands, falsified records and tried to prevent investigators from uncovering the truth. The chief prosecutor and grand jury foreman in the investigation wanted to bring criminal indictments against officials of the U.S.

BLM Program for Wild Horses
January 14, 1997
Thank you for your coverage (Jan. 5) of the stupidity and deception (my words) of the Bureau of Land Management and its multi-million-dollar effort to save wild horses. I find it repugnant that a government agency paid to administer a well-intentioned program not only violates the public trust, but profits from it. In the BLM’s $16-million-a-year program, about 90% of the horses, most of them young and healthy, are not saved, but go to slaughter. The government spends up to $1,100 to round up, vaccinate, freeze brand and adopt out a horse, but adopters pay only $125 (or sometimes as little as $25).

New Discoveries of Slain Horses Spur Investigation
June 9, 1989 | KENNETH REICH, Times Staff Writer
New discoveries of wild horses and deer slain in a rural section of Nevada near Great Basin National Park, allegedly by the employees of ranchers seeking to protect their grazing land, have spurred a fresh federal-state investigation. A federal grand jury in Las Vegas has issued subpoenas for six White Pine County residents, and two rifles suspected of being used in the killings have been confiscated, as a result of the inquiry by at least four agencies, according to law enforcement officials in the eastern Nevada town of Ely. Although an informant reported that as many as 400 horses and 200 deer had been killed, only 28 carcasses of slain horses and 20 of mule deer have been recovered, authorities said.

CONCLUSION

It becomes quite obvious, and over the years, that the Bureau of Land Management manages America’s Public Lands and Wildlife by deception, which promotes illegal situations. This attitude is to hell with the American Taxpayer. It includes their fraudulent budgets and their programs, that are in reality of no benefit to the American Public.

The elements as a whole demonstrate not only deception, but the BLM’s deceptive activity has been spread over decades, and remains consistent – costly – and most often illegal. If “Ignorance of the Law” is no Excuse” then how is this government agency and its employee’s still responsible for our Public Lands and Wildlife, still within government service, or better yet, not in jail?.

But worse, their deception, both the BLM and the Department of the Interior, has become quite costly to taxpayers, certainly within the trillions of dollars spent over the decades. Their decisions based on lies, innuendo, misinformation, and deceptive science. . .

What government agencies, like the BLM, have forgotten, and those who work there, is that they are paid to manage our Public Lands, and to protect not only our lands, but the environment and wildlife as well. They are not paid to be corporate-clones or welfare ranching management personnel!

It is past time for change. The BLM and DOI no longer uphold any type of ethical standards or boundaries to operate as a source to preserve America’s Public Lands. Many American’s are now calling for these agencies to be downsized; with many taxpayers demanding legislator’s to get rid, in total, of such out-of-control agencies as the BLM.

References:

Corruption of the BLM (Bureau of Land Management
http://truthsayer-esther.blogspot.com/p/corruption-and-undue-sovereignity-of.html

The BLM’s Corrupt Coal Leasing Program Billions in Subsidies to . . .
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/06/22/504322/the-blms-corrupt-coal-leasing-program-billions-in-subsidies-to-peabody-gigatons-of-carbon-pollution-for-the-rest-of-us/

A Positive Debate for Disbanding the Bureau of Land Management . . .
https://prophoto7journal.wordpress.com/2014/02/05/a-positive-debate-for-disbanding-the-bureau-of-land-management-and-breaking-apart-the-department-of-the-interior-an-editorial/

Wild Horse Roundups from Public Lands Unnecessary Due to Misinformation and Criminal Conduct
https://prophoto7journal.wordpress.com/2014/02/08/wild-horse-roundups-from-public-lands-unnecessary-due-to-misinformation-and-criminal-activity/

BLM versus American Taxpayers – The Ugly Truth . . .
https://prophoto7journal.wordpress.com/2013/11/12/blm-versus-american-taxpayers-the-ugly-truth-is-just-too-much-and-taxpayers-being-taken-for-a-ride-by-blm/

An Inner-View: BLM Spending and the Wild Horse Herd Rounups . . .
https://prophoto7journal.wordpress.com/2012/01/29/an-interview-government-blm-spending-and-the-wild-horse-roundup/