What's Proposed for Wilderness?
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FRIENDS OF NEVADA WILDERNESS K JULY 2004 eeping Nevada Wild Since 1984 Whats proposed for wilderness? ByLincoln Shaaron NethertonCounty Conservation, Recreation and Development Act The Lincoln County Conservation, Recreation tact wild landscapes. The bill also includes several and Development Act of 2004 (S2532/HR4593) citizen-proposed areas, including the stunning Big would designate 14 new wilderness areas, totaling Rocks Wilderness and Mt. Irish Wilderness with its 769,611 acres as wilderness, and re- rich archeological resources. These citizen lease 245,516 acres from wilderness areas were missed by the BLM during study area consideration. Wilderness their inventory and never became wilder- management and release provisions Many areas ness study areas. set no new precedent for wilderness would receive Many areas would receive permanent in the United States. These provi- permanent wilderness protection in this bill. The lofty sions are the same as those used for wilderness limestone cliffs of the Far South Egans and BLM wilderness areas in the Clark protection. Worthington Mountains hold important un- County Conservation of Public Lands derground wilderness values with their and Natural Resources Act of 2002. fragile cave resources, along with their There is also no “hard release” language in this bill, rugged outer beauty. The rainbow of colorful volca- which means all areas released as wilderness study nic tuff formations would be protected in the Fortifi- areas could be considered for wilderness again in cation Range. Wildlife habitat galore would be pro- the future. tected with the many springs and seeps of the Although it falls short of our expectations, this White Rock Range. Bristlecone pines cling to the bill would designate more Wilderness than any other tops of the Worthington Mountains, and large Pon- SPECIAL single bill has designated in Nevada. Our Citizens’ derosa Pine forests are found in the Weepah Spring proposal includes 2.5 million acres of wild lands area and Clover Mountains. Parsnip Peak cradles EDITION mostly in Lincoln County. A large chunk of that large stands of quaking aspen. proposal is land in the Desert National Game Throughout these areas, many wildlife species EASTERN Range. These US Fish and Wildlife-managed wild depend on the solitude, freedom and habitat that wil- lands are not included in this bill, but they will re- derness protects, from the desert tortoise to elk, NEVADA main protected as proposed wilderness until we are deer, bighorn, goshawks and golden eagles. PUBLIC able to get them designated in future legislation. Of special note are the “Big Four,” the Mormon, Report from the front lines Page 2 LANDS Meadow Valley, Delamar and Clover Mountains. Hold the anchovies! Page 3 BILL IS Three of these new wilderness areas would be- Lincoln County map Page 4 come the second, third and fifth-biggest wilderness Congressional comments on bill Page 5 INTRODUCED areas in the state (the Black Rock Desert is the A long road travelled Page 6 largest; Arc Dome would become fourth). These Inside: How you can improve the new bill Page 7 four areas total about 476,000 acres. The “Big Explaining the bill step by step Page 8 Four” and the nearby Desert National Wildlife Groundwater issues in Nevada Page 10 Range comprise an extensive block of relatively in- Water in the Las Vegas Valley Page 11 1 d From the front lines Timing is everything. For almost We have always believed the way four years, the board and staff of to accomplish wilderness protection is Board of Directors Friends of Nevada Wilderness have to work with all the stakeholders — been working hard to protect eastern the local and federal governments, No. HenryNevada Egghart Members Nevada’s wild places. We’ve reported land owners, miners, ranchers, hunt- Corey Lewis to you on our progress and highlight- ers and fishermen, mountain bikers, Ron Hunter ed some of these fabulous areas. OHV enthusiasts, Roger Scholl Almost the day you etc. These incredi- Marge Sill received your June ble lands belong newsletter in your to all of us. I firmly mailbox, our Congres- believe that the RuralKaren Nev adaBoeger Members sional delegation si- more polarized our Peter Bradley multaneously intro- country becomes, duced in the House and the more po- and Senate the Lin- larized our issues So. NeTheovada Byrns Members coln County Conserva- become, the hard- Geoff Frasz tion, Recreation and er it will be to find Hermi Hiatt Development Act of workable solutions John Hiatt 2004. Because protecting eastern on the ground, where solutions matter Macaire Moran Nevada is so important and every one most. We must learn to work together, Bart Patterson of you has helped in many ways, we trust each other and focus on the val- wanted to get a special edition of the ues that we share. Staff newsletter out to you, our members, This issue of the newsletter is as soon as possible. meant to inform you of the facts and Executive Director For me, the legislation is bitter- let you come to your own conclusions Shaaron Netherton sweet. I lived in Ely for over eight on how you feel about this bill. Contact Ely years and know and love many of information for the entire Nevada Con- Pam White these places. Yes, the bill proposes gressional delegation is included. I Las Vegas to protect some magnificent wild hope you will share your opinions with Susan Potts places, but it’s fewer than I had the delegation on how to improve this Reno hoped, and far less than our 2.5-mil- complex legislation. In this newsletter, Brian Beffort lion-acre Citizens’ Wilderness Pro- we offer some suggestions for improv- Pete Dronkers posal for Lincoln County. There are ing the Wilderness title as well as oth- Pat Patera key areas missing in the legislation, er titles. such as the Pahranagat Range, part For more information, refer to our NorthernPO BoxNe v9754ada Office of the Mt. Irish area, Dutch John website at Reno, NV 89507 Mountain and the vast wild areas in www.nevadawilderness.org (775) 324-7667 the Desert National Wildlife Range managed by the U.S. Fish and Wild- For the Wild! Sout1700hern E. Desert Nevada Inn #406Office life Service. Lower slopes of many Las Vegas, NV 89109 wilderness study areas have also (702) 650-6542 been left out. There are also titles in the bill, Shaaron Netherton www.nevadawilderness.orgWebsite such as the water pipeline corridors Executive Director and rights-of-way, that Friends of Ne- [email protected] vada Wilderness and the entire Neva- da environmental community vigor- ously oppose. 2 d Hold the anchovies! Lincoln County Wilderness By Roger Scholl and Brian Beffort On June 16, 2004, the entire bipartisan Nevada better. We are constantly asking them to do just Congressional delegation introduced the Lincoln that, but we also recognize that they work for County Conservation, Recreation and Develop- every other Nevadan as well, some of whom ment Act of 2004. Like the Clark County bill that have requested things we don’t like. As with so passed in 2002, the Act is not a wilderness bill, but rather an omnibus public lands bill that would leg- islate several actions involving public lands in the county. Some of these actions we support and are working to make stronger. Others we oppose and are working to eliminate. As we at Friends of Nevada Wilderness weigh the pros and cons of the different parts of the Act, we are reminded of the sometimes-frustrating way in which Congress works. Maybe it’s the fact that we haven’t had lunch yet today, but somehow this legislative process re- minds us of food. So here’s an analogy: In early 2001, our Congressional delegation an- nounced they would be baking a Lincoln County public-lands pizza. For several reasons (efficiency and expediency might be two), the delegation has chosen to address many eastern Nevada land is- sues in one big pizza, as they did in Clark County in 2002. They invited the public to provide their Mormon concerns and proposals as ingredients. Rural citi- many other bills working through Congress (the Mountains zens, local governments, land management agen- Energy and Appropriations bills are good exam- proposed cies, sportsmen, miners, off-road vehicle enthusi- ples), the Lincoln County bill has both good in- wilderness area asts and the Nevada Wilderness Coalition re- gredients and bad. Until it passes, we will work sponded. Each group brought its favorite ingredi- to add more good stuff and get rid of the bad. ents. As much as we believe in wilderness, we be- Now the delegation has assembled the pizza, lieve in American Democracy more. Rather than and we’re looking at it before it goes into the throwing bombs at each other, we gather around oven. We don’t like what we see. Someone else the table to contribute to a political pizza with brought anchovies (we hate anchovies), and we other Americans. It’s not always delicious, but Come on in the want more mushrooms. we see it as our only choice, as today’s political earth, like the sun, If this were our party, we would have done climate won’t tolerate a mushroom-only pizza. If belongs to everyone and to no one. things differently (more mushrooms, no ancho- not everyone sees the ecological, aesthetic and - Edward Abbey vies), but it’s not. We have to remind ourselves health benefits of mushrooms, we will continue that we’re not the only ones at the table, and to talk with them until they understand and ap- we’re not in control of the process. Such is the preciate what we find obvious.