Ok, here is some legal and historical background:
At the end of the Mexican-American War in 1848, Mexico and the U.S. signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo which granted title to that land to the U.S., for which the U.S. paid Mexico $15 million.
Article II, Section 2, Clause 2 of the United States Constitution, includes the Treaty Clause, which empowers the President of the United States to propose and chiefly negotiate agreements between the United States and other countries, which become treaties between the United States and other countries after the advice and consent of a super-majority of the United States Senate. Upon the signing of the treaty, the US government took ownership and title of the land.
March 3, 1849 Creation of the Home Department consolidating the General Land Office (Department of the Treasury), the Patent Office (Department of State), the Indian Affairs Office (War Department) and the military pension offices (War and Navy Departments). This is what we call the Department of the Interior.
Sixteen years later in 1864, Nevada became a state. A provision of the Nevada Statehood Act of 1864 promised that Nevada would disclaim all rights to the unappropriated public lands lying within its boundaries, and that such land would remain at the sole disposition of the United States. Again, at this point in time the US is the owner of the land. See the constitution of the state of Nevada for conformation.
1873 Congress transferred territorial oversight from the Secretary of State to the Secretary of the Interior.
The Taylor Grazing Act of 1934[1] (P.L. 73-482) is a United States federal law that provides for the regulation of grazing on the public lands (excluding Alaska) to improve range land conditions and regulate their use. Note that this was before Bundy was even born.
1946 Interior’s General Land Office and Grazing Service are merged into the Bureau of Land Management.
In 1993 after paying grazing fees for many years, the BLM decided to reduce the size of the grazing allotment to about 150 head. At this time Bundy decided to refuse to pay his grazing fees as required by law.
At no time has the US government sold or transferred title to Bundy or any other person for the land in question. The US government owns the land.
So, basically - what it boils down to is that the BLM (Bloviating Loser Muppets) is trying to steal Cliven Bundy’s water rights, which are worth A LOT more than the piddling “grazing fees”, which they weren’t using to help the ranchers anyway, as was agreed in the beginning of the contract...
Now I know a little about Utah history, thanks.