PART ONE We Join the Revolution Already in Progress Notice is hereby given that a temporary closure to public access, use, and occupancy will be in effect for the dates and times specified in this Notice on public lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management, Southern Nevada District Office, Las Vegas Field Office, within the Gold Butte, Mormon Mesa, and Bunkerville Flats Areas in the northeastern portion of Clark County, Nevada. This temporary closure is necessary to limit public access, use, and occupancy during an impoundment of illegally grazing cattle to ensure the safety and welfare of the public, contractors, and government employees. By the time the BLM''s official notice of federal land closure for the purposes of impounding Cliven Bundy''s cattle was made public, the rancher had already prepared and distributed official notices of his own. He was well-practiced, having typed notices and proclamations for years in his long dispute with a federal government that, according to his view of the world and reading of the U.S. Constitution, essentially didn''t much exist. Formally notified on March 14, 2014, that the impoundment was imminent, within 24 hours he''d told a reporter he was "ready to do battle" with the BLM and promised to do "whatever it takes" to defend his interests. It was a veiled threat he''d repeat often in the ensuing weeks in an effort to do-si-do on the fine line separating constitutionally protected free speech and a criminal threat of violence against federal officers and government contractors.

He had known a storm was coming. One missive he had typed was dated three days earlier than the government''s notice. It declared, "RANGE WAR EMERGENCY" and made a "DEMAND FOR PROTECTION" from a long list of Nevada elected officials headed not by the state''s congressional delegation, but by Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie. Bundy added in all caps that a "NOTICE OF CATTLE RUSTLING AND ILLEGAL SEIZURE BY CONTRACT COWBOYS, UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE BLM, IS IN PROGRESS ON BUNDY''S RANCH, CLARK COUNTY, NEVADA." His demand was signed and notarized, calling for action from the county sheriff and state officials because, as he repeatedly claimed, the federal government held no jurisdiction over the land or his herd. That same day, Bundy also asserted a lien against officials of the Cattoor Livestock Roundup, Inc., of Nephi, Utah--a family outfit often used by the BLM to gather stray cattle and wild horses and burros from federal public land and Indian reservations. The gatherings were commonly controversial and occasionally litigated by animal rights groups and members of Nevada''s Paiute Tribe.

The Cattoor company was among the most experienced in the business. Other contractors were anxious to go to work, including Sun J Livestock, Sampson Livestock, ''R'' Livestock, and Sky Hawk Helicopter Service, a company contracted to spot and direct cattle from the air. The BLM had budgeted approximately $1 million for the cattle impoundment, and had no shortage of willing contractors. That is, until the companies began receiving official notices of lien threatening them with "appropriate legal remedies" and even the "filing of criminal complaints with the proper jurisdictional authorities." The notifications ended with, "Cliven Bundy will do whatever it takes to protect his property and rights and liberty and freedoms and those of, We the People, of Clark County, Nevada." Going after the government contractors, some of them fellow church members, was part of a multi-pronged approach the rancher used to foul the impoundment. It was no secret plan. He made his intentions clear with every missive.

Legalistic letters were enough to make some potential contractors think twice. The tactic had worked repeatedly in 2012, the last time the government had scheduled an impoundment before postponing it in part out of a concern for employee safety. That time, at least one livestock contractor said he felt "intimidated" by the family, understandable after Bundy said he''d defend his cattle with the help of armed ranchers from throughout the region. Two years later, Bundy was back at the keyboard producing notices of lien and liability against a new group of cooperators with the federal enemy. After ''R'' Livestock Connection LLC, a cattle auction based in Monroe, Utah, placed the sole bid for a $78,000 contract to sell off Bundy''s cattle, it received a visit from Ryan Bundy, one of Cliven''s fourteen sons, and others associated with the rancher''s cause. Signs announcing "Stolen Cattle Sold Here" were posted. A government indictment would later describe Bundy''s angry rhetoric as a threat of "force, violence and economic harm." Bundy''s son, in fact, had accused the company''s owner of selling "his soul to the devil for a few stolen cattle.

" Threats aside, it wasn''t as if locating and gathering his ornery stock was in itself a daunting task for the BLM, US National Park Service (NPS), and private contractors. Their numbers, kept secret as a safety precaution, were spread out across approximately 600,000 acres of federal public land, closing sections as needed for the roundup. By the end of the first week of April, 322,000 acres, most of it administered by the BLM or NPS, but some even belonging to the US Bureau of Reclamation, were shut off from public access. The government set up its incident command post just off Interstate 15 in Toquop Wash about six miles from Bundy Ranch. It was a heavily guarded but homely piece of drainage that crossed the busy highway beneath two concrete bridges. In a major flash flood event during the late-summer monsoons or a downpour of biblical proportions, Toquop might send water all the way to the Virgin River. Command trailers and a corral were set up; a perimeter fence was guarded and monitored by surveillance cameras with the cut of the wash and the two highway bridges placing the impoundment site at a strategic disadvantage in the unlikely event of a confrontation. But given the intimidating firepower on display, heavily armed federal law enforcement in military garb and flak jackets, such a thing seemed like long odds.

The odds shifted though, when Bundy began to use the government''s might against itself. He calmly gave press briefings that often turned into winding speeches about ranching and government overreach. Wherever the talks started, they always ended up with a lesson in the constitution''s divine providence. By the time the last of the banners and bunting were draped and flag unfurled, Bundy was giving speeches from atop a makeshift stage flanked, for the first time, by armed security guards.