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It's high noon in the American high desert, and the cowboys are gearing up for the fight of their lives.

January's armed occupation of a wildlife refuge in the western state of Oregon has highlighted a long-simmering land dispute between America's rural communities and the federal government in Washington DC, which owns vast tracts of isolated and scenic territory.

Now, a new front has opened in the dispute, with the proposal that a massive conservation zone be created in Oregon's mountainous east.

Ranchers who use the land to graze their cattle say their historic way of life will be doomed by the plan. They say they don't believe assurances that grazing would continue. Meanwhile other Americans, especially those in cities, want to see federal land like this protected, and used for outdoor recreation and environmental purposes.

Neal Razzell travels to Oregon to see how these differences are fuelling a cultural battle over what it means to be American.

(Photo: Cowboy on horseback in the dusty desert. Credit: Judy Wilkinson)