The latest clash between federal land managers and Sagebrush Rebellion-style critics played out in a tense but buttoned-up proceeding yesterday in a quiet courtroom in Washington, D.C.

There, government lawyers urged the U.S. Court of Federal Claims to toss a lawsuit from Nevada landowners who say a federal restoration project stole their water and flooded their land.

At issue is Patch of Heaven, a Christian camp on private land nestled within the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge.