Candidate for BLM director joins legal team in Snake River ranch dispute

The lawyer representing a Pomeroy, Washington, rancher at the center of a legal dispute with the federal government has joined forces with one of the nation’s top rancher-rights advocates, who could soon become President Donald Trump’s pick to run the Federal Bureau of Land Management. Karen Budd-Falen, who practices law with her husband, Frank, in Cheyenne, Wyoming, filed paperwork Friday with U.S. District Court in Spokane to help represent Walter “Sonny” Riley along with Riley’s current attorney, Toni Meacham, of Connell, Washington. The attorneys have until March 22 to respond after the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Spokane filed a civil action last month that is asking a federal judge to sanction Riley for “trespass, encroachment, damages.” The suit also seeks to make Riley pay the legal costs incurred by forcing him to abide by the rules on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers property that is adjacent to Riley’s River Ranch near the closed Central Ferry State Park on the Snake River. “Karen is a phenomenal attorney,” Meacham said of Budd-Falen. “She’s one of the top attorneys in the nation on federal ag issues. Why not get someone on the team that’s going to do a good job?” Budd-Falen said she remains in consideration to be tapped by Trump to become the director of the BLM, which is a division of the U.S. Department of Interior under Secretary Ryan Zinke. In a move that sparked controversy, Zinke named Brian Steed as interim BLM director last November, according to the Washington-Post. “I can’t say that moving to Washington (D.C.) from Cheyenne excites me,” Budd-Falen said. “But if I can help and have something to contribute to the Department of Interior, I’m willing to do that.”,,,more