That law conveyed road rights of way, a true property right, directly from Congress to counties, entirely bypassing the BLM. In repealing it in 1976, Congress specifically "grandfathered" all valid transfers up to that time.

The Tribune's definition of "grandfathering" rights is generally adequate ("to preserve a person's active right, possession or practice when the laws change around them"). But then, unaccountably, it concludes that because these closures happened 15 years ago, and, it claims, these were not "active trafficways" during that time, the state's action is somehow inappropriate.

What was "grandfathered" was the property right, the "possession" element of its own definition, not, as The Tribune suggests, some nebulous right to an "active trafficway."

The legal reality is that the BLM has no authority to close roads over validly granted RS 2477 rights of way or to determine the validity of a county's right of way assertion. Only the courts can do that.

The real issue is whether federal bureaucrats will be required to obey the law, not how long it takes to force them to do so. By missing that point while continuing to fabricate silly purported legal tests to support its anti-public access editorial stance, The Tribune is just muddying the water.

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Mark O. Walsh is executive director of the Western Counties Alliance.