And I said nothing, for I was not a rancher.

MV

I can only answer #2...sell at auction to satisfy debt.

I do find it kind of humorous that some people hold the belief that there is some inherent right to continue doing something, just because they have been doing it all their lives....

Not similar at all. Land and water rights are not grazing leases, that's all he appears to have had. Grazing leases are revocable anytime the fed deems it necessary. Best way to keep them "grandfathered" is to pay the rent, and if the feds tell you you can only have 150 cows on your allotment, you better not have 151.
My great grandparents grazed cattle on my allotment before AZ became a state. When it did, 80% of the state became federal land, including that graze. They started paying fees. The only reason I still do it is there are some historic pens and structures on the property that they built.
Grazing fees are cheap. Welfare ranchers whine about them all the time, threatening dire consequences for the price of beef when their fees went to $16.20 per cow and calf unit. That's a buck thirty five per animal unit month or AUM.
I'm not a foaming at the mouth type who thinks grazing is categorically bad for range land. We practice Allan Savory's methods with the sheep, and the renters who have cattle on my allotment do the same, have for years.
At the same time, I have little sympathy for so called independent ranchers who are in reality conducting private business on public land largely at public expense with precious little oversight.

Here's an interesting take on this. Granted, it's going to take more research to know for sure, but it seems quite plausible.

BLM fracking racket exposed! Armed siege and cattle theft from Bundy ranch really about fracking leases

Follow the money is always a good idea.

Posse comatatis , call him whatever you want but using armed forces against American citizens for non violent violations is not only wrong it's against the law. Since this guy is a Mormon rancher he's a dead man, if he were an atheist hippie the feds would not give a poop. This is the same administration that raised hell about targeting US citizens in Yemen that we're conspiring to launch terrorist attacks against the US of A.

Absolute BS in my opinion.

Not a big fan of BLM by any means, but is it not within their purview to change the land use from grazing to oil exploration?

You're talking about quite a bit of land. Until oil is definitively found, exploration operations can coexist with grazing. What's technically legal doesn't make it morally right. If it's about oil, I hope it does turn into a media circus.

Since he has neglected to pay his grazing fees, he has no legal recourse.

Now that he has accepted help from armed militias, they stand a much better chance of ending up dead.
Dead and stupid... they kind of go together.....

At this point, I have seen no compelling evidence that BLM has done anything worse than being a little heavy handed with a db who has flaunted his unwillingness to play by the rules.

Morally right??? WTF do morals have to do with grazing?

BLM oversees the land.
Guy has not paid his grazing fees, yet continues to graze there.
Seems pretty simple to me, regardless of whatever nefarious purpose the .gov has in mind for that area.

Personally, I think the guy is a douche for grazing on public land without a permit and without paying the grazing fees.
He's lucky he hasn't been tossed in the hoosegow already.

Do you know the history of the fees? Were they suddenly raised to exorbitant levels, perhaps? Do the fees vary by area, or are they all as cheap as El Chivito says.

For all we know, he has a right to be livid here.

His right to be livid expired 20 years ago....

I completely disagree with him that he has 'preemptive rights' to graze there.