Nevada ranchers cite Gandhi in 'Grass March' protest ride

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Reno, Nev. • Ranchers in northern Nevada are taking a page out of Gandhi's book in their protest of livestock grazing reductions on federal lands.

Elko County Commissioner Grant Gerber is the chief organizer of a 70-mile horseback trek beginning on Memorial Day that he calls the "Grass March."

He says the multi-day ride from Elko to Battle Mountain is modeled after Gandhi's "Salt March" from Sabarmati to Dandi, India in protest of the British colonial monopoly on salt in 1930.

He says U.S. land managers have the same stranglehold on Nevada land and grass as the British had on Indian salt supplies.

But Bureau of Land Management officials say temporary reductions in some grazing allotments are necessary due to lingering drought.