FRIENDS OF NEVADA WILDERNESS AUTUMN 2004 Keeping Nevada Wild Since 1984 Bill designates biggest amount of Nevada wilderness ever Lincoln County Wilderness! Together we did it! On November 17, Congress Clover Mountains, White Rock Range and two citi- passed the Lincoln County Conservation, Recre- zen-proposed areas (i.e., they weren’t Wilderness ation and Development Act of 2004, Study Areas before the bill): the Mt. Irish which designates 14 new wilderness and Big Rocks wilderness areas. areas totaling 768,294 acres — the 14 areas and “We are pleased that the entire Nevada greatest acreage ever designation by 768,000 acres delegation worked so closely together on this a single bill in Nevada. Your support were given legislation,” said Shaaron Netherton, helped make it happen! permanent Friends’ Executive Director. “Many incredi- Some of the new wilderness ar- protection for ble areas were given permanent protection eas include the Mormon, Meadow future for future generations as a result of the bill.” Valley and Delamar mountains wil- generations Friends of Nevada Wilderness and the derness areas, which are now the Nevada Wilderness Coalition have been second-, third- and fifth-largest wilderness areas in working on this bill since 2001. Three years of See list of new Nevada (at 315,000 acres, the Black Rock Desert meetings, letter writing, phone calls, visits to Con- wilderness areas on page 4 wilderness remains the largest). Other wonderful gressional staff, mapping, hiking, photographing, wilderness areas include the Fortification Range, continued on page 3 Public may gain 20 thousand acres Jaksick parcels approved for acquisition by BLM By Brian Beffort these parcels will assure continued habitat for mule On August 5, Secretary of the Interior Gale deer, bighorn sheep and other wildlife, continued ac- Norton approved the public acquisition of more than cess for hunters, hikers and other recreationists, and 20,000 acres of wild and scenic private lands under protection from developers’ bulldozers. Round 5 of the Southern Nevada Public Lands Man- continued on page 4 agement Act (SNPLMA). This is a big step toward protecting wildlands and ensuring that four wilder- Get your View from the front lines Page 2 2005 ness study areas are never marred by development and blocked access. New wilderness areas list Page 3 Wild Nevada Arguably the most important proposed acquisi- Humboldt-Toiyabe NF campaign Page 4 calendar available now! tion will be the Jaksick Parcels, 19,000 acres of par- Trek the Toiyabe Crest trail Page 5 cels scattered across the top of the Granite Moun- Black Rock power plant Page 5 see back page tains, on the western edge of the Black Rock Inside: Desert, as well as private land in and around the Wilderness heroes honored Page 6 Wall Canyon, Poodle Mountain, Twin Peaks and Remembering Sally Kabisch Page 6 Buffalo Hills wilderness study areas. When acquired, Working for wilderness in DC Page 7 1 d From the front lines Next public lands bill contenders: Board of Directors White Pine, Pershing, Lyon counties No. HenryNevada Egghart Members Together, we made a difference! discussions and fieldwork are under- Corey Lewis Thanks to you, Nevada can celebrate way in Lyon County. Ron Hunter the inclusion of 14 new wilderness WE’VE HAD SOME GREAT SUC- areas into the National Wilderness Roger Scholl CESSES THIS YEAR Preservation System. These areas Marge Sill Fourteen new Wilderness areas are in Lincoln County. were designated. Approval for fund- National politics ing to buy important aside, Nevada is private land within RuralKaren Nev adaBoeger Members where wilderness pro- several wilderness Peter Bradley tection in this county study areas was in happening and you, granted. Illegal vehi- So. Nevada Members the devoted members cle routes were re- Theo Byrns of Friends of Nevada claimed in wild Geoff Frasz Wilderness, are mak- places by volun- Hermi Hiatt ing it happen. We teers on the John Hiatt couldn’t do it without ground. In short, Macaire Moran you. you make these Bart Patterson Wilderness pro- Shaaron Netherton successes possible tection for Lincoln County was over by your efforts on the ground, by Staff three years in the making. Wilder- your letters, and by your financial ness protection doesn’t come easy; support and personal passion. ShaaronExecutive Netherton Director it takes a lot of on-the-ground work, THINK ABOUT YOUR VISION FOR meetings, more meetings, building WILD NEVADA PamEly White relationships and trust with all play- When you receive your end-of- ers. But there’s lots more to do. year request letter for a donations, SusanLas V egasPotts WHERE WILL THE NEXT WILDER- think about what we have accom- NESS DESIGNATIONS BE? plished together. Think about your BrianReno Beffort Nevada’s Congressional delega- vision for Wild Nevada. Then give Pete Dronkers tion has made it clear they want to generously so that we can turn your Pat Patera address public lands issues for every vision into reality. Together we can county in Nevada, following the mod- give Nevada the wilderness it de- el crafted in the Clark and Lincoln serves. NorthernPO BoxNe v9754ada Office Reno, NV 89507 counties bills. Visit our website for holiday gift (775) 324-7667 Based on comments from the ideas. Give a gift memberships to a delegation, we’re betting on White happening organization. Give wilder- Pine, Pershing and Lyon counties as ness calendars, books, or t-shirts. Sout1700hern E. Desert Nevada Inn #406Office contenders for the next public lands Spread the wild word. Give the Las Vegas, NV 89109 bill. Friends of Nevada Wilderness is gift of wilderness! (702) 650-6542 laying foundations in all of these Website places. Pam White, our rural orga- Happy Holidays www.nevadawilderness.org nizer, is hard at work in her White Pine County. Members like you are E-mail [email protected] attending wilderness meetings in Pershing County this month, and Shaaron Netherton Newsletter published quarterly 2 d Wilderness bill is largest ever in Nevada continued from page 1 and working together with other stakeholders paid off with 11% of Lincoln County in eastern Nevada forever protected as wilderness! Although this legislation represents a major step forward for protection of many deserving and threatened areas, some of the wilderness ar- eas are smaller than they should be and the Pahranagat Range and other areas were not giv- en the wilderness protection they desperately need. Friends of Nevada Wilderness is also disap- pointed that water pipeline utility corridors were included in the bill, as they may help facilitate the movement of water from rural Nevada to Las Vegas. We stand united with Nevada’s larger conservation community in opposing these short-sighted proposals. With the continued support of you, our The Lincoln County bill designated two citizen-proposed wilderness areas: Big members, wilderness protection will move for- Rocks and Mt. Irish, which the BLM totally missed in their wilderness inventories. ward in Nevada, to other counties. As long as Congress, however, recognized their wilderness values, and included them. there are wild places in Nevada needing protec- tion, Friends of Nevada Wilderness will be out there leading the charge. New Wilderness in Eastern Nevada area acres For more detail on the bill and its history, Mormon Mountains Wilderness 157,938 visit our website: www. nevadawilderness.org. Look for a more detailed tour of Nevadas Meadow Valley Range Wilderness 123,488 Delamar Mountains Wilderness 111,328 newest wilderness areas in future newsletters. Climb the Clover Mountains Wilderness 85,748 mountains and South Pahroc Range Wilderness 25,800 get their glad Worthington Mountains Wilderness 30,664 tidings. Natures peace Weepah Spring Wilderness 51,480 will flow into Parsnip Peak Wilderness 43,693 you as White Rock Range Wilderness 24,413 sunshine flows Fortification Range Wilderness 30,656 into trees. – John Muir Time to rest on our laurels? Far South Egans Wilderness 36,384 Not for a minute! There is still lots to do. Tunnel Spring Wilderness 5,371 The newly designated wilderness areas need peo- Big Rocks Wilderness 12,997 ple to be friends of Nevada wilderness. Want to get involved in the office or on the ground? Call (775) Mt. Irish Wilderness 28,334 324-7667 to learn more about becoming a wilder- TOTAL ACRES 768,294 ness advocate. 3 V Working for more National Forest wilderness 812,000 acres aren’t enough By Pete Dronkers The results of this work are invaluable — it may Every visit to the Humboldt-Toiyabe National double the 812,000 acres of designated wilderness Forest rewards me with the realization that I am in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. In the contributing to a legacy of protection in Nevada. In northern Monitor Range, for example, an area of terms of designating wilderness, Nevada truly is a 40,000 acres was bisected into 3 roadless units in frontier. My photos and reports about these beauti- the USFS roadless inventory, but the dividing roads ful, remote, and little-known didn’t exist on the ground. As a result, the Forest Mission roadless areas provide a frame- Service agreed that this is one contiguous area, and Statement The results of work for Forest Service wilder- now we will advocate for a wilderness recommen- Keep this work are in- ness recommendations. The re- dation for the Summit and Antelopemountains. valuable — it may sults will be priceless. Nevada double the Wild! In the last half year, 812,000 acres of as the Friends of Neva- designated wil- da Wilderness Forest Friends of Nevada derness in the Service coordinator, I Wilderness is Humboldt-Toiyabe have spent more than National Forest. dedicated to 35 days in the field preserving all looking for just the qualified Nevada right place and moment to capture the es- public lands as sence of an area on film and in writing.