Anti-federal fervor has reached such a pitch in rural Nevada, Flora said, that Forest Service employees have been refused service at restaurants and one was kicked out of an area motel after the owners learned who his employer was. She said many U.S. forest rangers in Elko County have stopped wearing their signature green uniforms for fear of reprisal, and some now drive their own vehicles after a marked Forest Service truck was briefly detained without cause by local law enforcement. As a safety measure, rangers also travel in pairs whenever they venture into the Jarbidge area, Flora added. This is classic discrimination. My people now pretend they're not who they are.
Local officials deny that any such incidents have occurred.
Before last month's ban on the citizen road repair, sheriff's deputies warned U.S. forest rangers to avoid the Jarbidge area for fear that dirt road supporters arriving from throughout Nevada and Idaho might get incited. And the Elko County undersheriff has repeatedly had to remind disgruntled residents that, under the law, they have to obey the orders of rangers on U.S. forest land. Flora noted that her staff even lacks support from federal prosecutors. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Las Vegas has declined to prosecute at least 21 felonies and 52 misdemeanors involving threats and other crimes against federal employees since 1990, she said. The U.S. Attorney's Office said those cases had not been prosecuted for many reasons, including lack of evidence.