SPOKANE — Two dozen cattlemen and lawyers for the federal government have decided to work together to settle a legal dispute over a narrow strip of public land between the ranches and the Snake River.
The Spokesman-Review says they are seeking to avoid the kind of armed standoffs that have occurred over land disputes in recent years.
Federal Judge Stanley Bastian held a teleconference Thursday in which lawyers for both sides agreed to continue to work on a potential land swap that would resolve disputes with 23 ranchers.
The years-long dispute escalated in January when the government sought to sanction rancher Walter Riley for trespassing on a small strip of land between his ranch and the railroad tracks that border the Snake River near the closed Central Ferry State Park.
