Marvin Brandt and his wife shed tears of joy on March 10 as their near-decade long battle with the U.S. government finally came to an end when the Supreme Court ruled in their favor.Challenging the Rails-to-Trails project in 2006, Brandt contested the government's defense that it retained the right to continue use on an abandoned railway for hikers and bicyclists that bisects his 83-acre parcel of forestland in Wyoming.Like many landowners, Brandt's ties to the land go back decades. His father, Melvin, began work at a sawmill located on the property in 1939, purchasing the mill and moving his family to Fox Park in 1946. Marvin Brandt started working at the sawmill in 1958 and came to own and operate it in 1976 until it closed 15 years later. In 1976, the United States conveyed that land to the Brandt family in a land patent that contained part of a right of way for a 66-mile railroad abandoned in 2004.
展开▼
