How earlier Bundy standoff was resolved

With the takeover to a federal nature reserve in Oregon by a militia group including three sons of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, it's worth a look back to see at how a Nevada standoff between the Bureau of Land Management and up to 1,000 protestors – some of them armed – was resolved peacefully.

In April 2014, U.S. officials ended the tense showdown in the Nevada desert by calling off plans to roundup about 1,000 cattle BLM officials had charged were illegally grazing on federal land and giving back about 300 it had already seized.

The standoff had occupied headlines for days and garnered considerable support from ranchers in the West, where the federal government claims ownership to most land.

The plans to seize Bundy's cattle came after the BLM said Bundy had stopped paying fees for grazing cattle on public land.

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The bureau had called in a team of armed rangers to Nevada to seize the 1,000 head of cattle but backed down in the interests of safety.

"Based on information about conditions on the ground and in consultation with law enforcement, we have made a decision to conclude the cattle gather because of our serious concern about the safety of employees and members of the public," the bureau's director, Neil Kornze, said in a statement.

"This is what I prayed for," said Margaret Houston, one of Bundy's sisters. "We are so proud of the American people for being here with us and standing with us."

Some of Bundy's supporters, who included militia members from California, Idaho and other states, dressed in camouflage and carried rifles and sidearms. During the stand-off, some chanted "open that gate" and "free the people."

The dispute between Bundy and federal land managers began in 1993 when he stopped paying monthly fees of about $1.35 per cow-calf pair to graze public lands.

"We won the battle," said Ammon Bundy, one of the rancher's sons who organized the takeover of a nature preserve in western Oregon.

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The bureau said Cliven Bundy still owes taxpayers more than $1 million, which includes both grazing fees and penalties, and that it would work to resolve the matter administratively and through the court system.

Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval, who had suggested the federal government had created an atmosphere of "intimidation," said in a statement he welcomed the bureau's action. "Given the circumstances, today's outcome is the best we could have hoped for."