Bundy standoff
On March 27, 2014, 145,604 acres of federal land in Clark County were temporarily closed for the "capture, impound, and removal of trespass cattle." BLM officials and law enforcement rangers began a roundup of such livestock on April 5, and Cliven Bundy's son, Dave, was arrested. On April 12, 2014, a group of protesters, some of them armed, approached the BLM "cattle gather". Sheriff Doug Gillespie negotiated with Bundy and newly-confirmed BLM director Neil Kornze, who elected to release the cattle and de-escalate the situation. As of the end of 2015, Cliven Bundy continued to graze his cattle on federal land and still had not paid the grazing fees.
Bundy standoff
Twenty months after the incident, Bundy had not paid the fees and continued to graze cattle on Federal land. A spokesperson for the Bureau of Land Management wrote in response to a reporter's inquiry: "Our primary goal remains to resolve this matter safely and according to the rule of the law." The response added "The Bureau of Land Management remains resolute in addressing issues involved in efforts to gather Mr. Bundy's cattle and we are pursuing the matter through the legal system." The BLM spokesperson also said "The Department of Justice has the lead on any investigation of federal crimes that may have been committed." The US Attorney's Office in Las Vegas would neither confirm or deny that there was a criminal investigation.