These are not random squaters who have come and seized land that the Federal government was using for some other purpose. Rather, they are members of families who have a long-term lease agreement on “tax payer owned land” wiho want to continue the lease agreement which is beneficial both to those leasing and the taxpayers. The Feds, for the political purpose of appearing green, want to have the land used in a less productive manner which will produce good feelings for some but no material benefit for the tax-payers.
GIven that these families went into business with one set of rules, and the government wants to change the rules, it is an issue of justice. Justice is a reasonable hill to die on.
And that is what is happening all over the West. The Feds are driving people off the land they have worked and loved for generations. This may not be a tidy way of doing things, but someone has got to stand up. And I am sorry, but many of you in the East do not understand the gravity of this. The industries they have killed, the lands they have ruined. Every single day Washington comes up with a new rule and regulation and cuts of land use for real people. It is suffocating the West.
If my landlord does not want to renew my lease, or if my landlord will only renew it on different terms, that's life and if I don't like it I'll need to move.
And that's even ignoring the fact that tenants who do not pay their rent, like the Bundys, are indeed squatters.