I have to wonder if you have ever spent time in this area. Desolate and remote, very dry, little vegetation. A few hundred cows spread across hundreds of square miles. Dirt bikes roar across this desert at 80MPH. There are no fences, it is open range.
A person can drive on two lane roads and not see another car or a building for many miles.
I’ve been near there and it is all that you described. However, it is obviously suitable for grazing. It should be noted though, that Bundy stopped paying before the gov’t stopped grazing on that land.
That is totally irrelevant to the argument. It could be the most desolate place on earth, yet technology exists to grow fields of corn in that place. There needs to be oversight management of federal lands otherwise people will have the opportunity to abuse it.
Another irrelevant point is whether the federal government has the right to manage it. That is a WHOLE different argument.
In this case, the agreement was established long ago, and Bundy failed to uphold his part of the contract. So now he must keep his cattle off the land.
Bundy grazed his cattle on that ground, and he owes fees to do so. He stopped paying. His rights are terminated.