This Patch of Heaven emerges as anti-government hotbed

摘要

AMARGOSA VALLEY, Nev. -Critics of federal land management, including Nevada rancher turned gubernatorial candidate Ryan Bundy, will gather tonight in this remote area west of Las Vegas to rally for the movement's newest cause celebre: Patch of Heaven.rnThe 40-acRe Christian camp sits within Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge and once held baptisms in a stream -until the government diverted the water.rnBoth Bundy's campaign and the libertarian website Lysander Spooner University will host events to highlight the long-running legal battle being fought by the camp's owner, a Nevada-based church called Ministerio Roca Solida.rn'The Fish and Wildlife Service has been a terrible neighbor," Mountain States Legal Foundation President William Perry Pendley, whose firm is representing the church, told E&E News.rnDocuments filed in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims show that in 2006, the Ministerio Roca Solida paid $500,000 to purchase a 40-acre site located within the boundaries of the wildlife refuge.