this rancher was on glenn beck, and his argument seems to hold water
the federal govt owned the land, then the federal govt allowed Nevada to become a state, at that point it was no longer federal land, it was state and county land.
His family bought the rights to use parts of the land from the state/county, those rights have been passed down to him.
He has a contract with the state/county for use of the land
the land is not owned by the federal govt, as such the federal govt cannot control his legal use of the land (he bought the rights to use it)
now is he paying the grazing rights till? he said he tried to pay them to the county, the county wouldn't take them, why would he pay grazing rights to the fed when it is state land?
ever try to insure something that isn't yours? you can't, you don't have an insurable interest in it, the govt doesn't have the right to push him off land that isn't theres.
would this hold up in court? doubt it, too many lefties out there, but based on the very basic general information that I got from listening to the rancher himself, seems to make sense.