DESERT WILDERNESS PROPOSAL PUBLIC HEARING STATEMENT BY JOHN D. FINDLAY BUREAU OF SPORT FISHERIES AND WILDLIFE REPRESENTATIVE OCTOBER 2, 1971 Good morning, Ladies and Gentlemen. I am John D. Findlay, Regional Director, Region 1, of the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife. Our Regional Office is in Portland, Oregon. It is with a great deal of pleasure that I welcome you to this hearing of the Desert Wilderness Proposal within the Desert National Wildlife Range. As background I should like to point out that the Wilderness Act of 1964 directed the Secretary of the Interior to review all roadless areas of 5,000 acres or more and every roadless island within the National Wildlife Refuge System to determine their suitability or nonsuitability as wilderness. Further, regulations of the Secretary of the Interior published on February 22, 1966, require this Bureau to review those areas qualifying for study under the Wilderness Act that are: (a) reasonably compact; (b) undeveloped; (c) possess the general characteristics of wilderness; and (d) are without improved roads suitable for public travel by conventional automobile. The National Wildlife Refuge System consists of over 300 units containing nearly 30 million acres. Units of the system are found on lands reaching from the shores of the Arctic Ocean to islands of the Central Pacific Ocean, and from the Florida Keys to Maine. There is one or more National Wildlife Refuge^in every one of the 17 major Life Zones of North America. Therefore, the ecology of each National Wildlife Refuge differs from any other refuge, although some are similar. Because of these ecological differences, management objectives of individual refuges are often quite different. It has been determined that about 90 National Wildlife Refuges, containing nearly 25 million acres, qualify for study as wilderness. These refuges are located in 32 different States. As you can see, the wilderness review program in the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife, of which this proposal is a part, encompasses a wide spectrum of lands within National Wildlife Refuges in the country. Only through careful study and analysis can a proper determination be made regarding whether a National Wildlife Refuge, or a portion of a National Wildlife Refuge, qualifies for consideration by the Secretary of the Interior as wilderness. We are presenting the results of our study of the Desert National Wildlife Range for your consideration today. You have a copy of the brochure which summarizes the study we have made of this proposal. Copies of the complete study report are available for your scrutiny after the hearing here on the first table. We ask you to please leave them in the Hearing Room after you have finished with them because the number of copies is very limited. A copy of my statement is also available, if you do not already have a copy, for your information and use. The Desert National Wildlife Range is located in the northeastern portion of the Mohave Desert in Clark and Lincoln Counties, southern Nevada. The southern-most boundary is approximately one-half mile from the city limits of metropolitan Las Vegas. It lies about 15 miles northeast of the Toiyabe National Forest, and about 20 miles northwest of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area on the Colorado River. Established in 1936 by Executive Order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 1,588,000-acre area is the largest unit of the National Wildlife Refuge System outside Alaska. The primary objective is to preserve and protect natural environmental qualities required for the survival of an optimum population of desert bighorn sheep and other native wildlife. Adminis- trative headquarters are located in Las Vegas with a sub-headquarters at Corn Creek Springs, 23 miles northwest. The western portion of the Range is used by the United States Air Force as an aerial bombing and gunnery training site. Public access to these lands is restricted. The wilderness study area included the entire Wildlife Range plus 58,000 acres of adjacent public domain lands, or a total of 1,646,000 acres. The public domain lands were included in the study after preliminary field investigations revealed that they were ecological and topographical exten- sions of the Range and that Highway 93 and the Caliente Power Line Road, which parallel the area, would serve as a more definable boundary along the east side of the study area. Following an initial evaluation, the study area was divided into 15 indi- vidual study units. Unit boundaries were established largely on the basis of permanent roads and vehicle trails, contour lines, and legal subdivisions, Approximately 88 percent of the area, or 1,442,000 acres, were judged suit- able for further consideration as wilderness within ten separate units. The Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife has primary jurisdiction over the entire Desert National Wildlife Range except for a 3,200-acre area subject to a primary withdrawal by the Air Force in the southeast corner of the Range. All lands proposed for wilderness are Federally owned. The 960 acres of private inholdings within the study area were found to be unsuitable for wilderness. The adjacent public domain lands are currently administered by the Bureau of Land Management; however, plans to withdraw them for addition to the Wildlife Range are pending. During the late 1930's and early 1940's, there were numerous military withdrawals affecting the Wildlife Range. Several of these orders are still in effect; however, a public land order in 1962 made all outstanding military withdrawals subject to a 1961 Memorandum of Understanding. This is a ten-year agreement between the Secretaries of the Air Force and the Interior which authorizes Air Force use of an 819,000-acre area in the western portion of the Wildlife Range as a bombing and gunnery range. Provision is made for an automatic five-year renewal, and the present agreement expires in 1976. The agreement now governs all use by the Air Force within the Wildlife Range. It specifies that only certain locations within the bombing range may be used for target sites. These target sites total approximately 17 percent of the bombing range, or about 139,000 acres, and were found unsuitable for further consideration as wilderness. All grazing privileges within the Wildlife Range have been eliminated through purchase by the Corps of Engineers in conjunction with the earlier military use, or by termination of the permits. All water rights are held by the United States. Lands within the bombing and gunnery range and the 3,200-acre Air Force withdrawal are closed to location under the mining laws. All other lands in the study area are open to mining and mineral location under certain conditions. Two short-term special land use permits are currently in effect. One was issued to the Clark County Civil Defense Agency in 1968 for a period of five years for use of the June Bug Mine tunnel as a National Emergency Fallout Shelter. The other was granted to the Atomic Energy Commission in 1967 for a five-year period to drill a well for monitoring purposes in connection with their program at the Nevada Test Site. Both areas and their associated access trails have been excluded from the wilderness proposal. The wilderness study area embraces seven mountain ranges, separated by intermountain desert valleys. Elevations vary from 2,600 feet to nearly 10,000 feet in the Sheep Range. Except for the valleys and dry lake beds, which are generally flat, the terrain is extremely steep, rocky and rugged. The study area contains nearly every ecological type that occurs in southern Nevada. This ecological diversity creates favorable habitat for a variety of wildlife species — the most notable being the desert bighorn sheep. A total of 53 species of mammals, 250 species of birds, and 30 species of amphibians and reptiles occur on the area. Water is scarce throughout the area, and there are no free-flowing streams, ponds, or marshes, except at Corn Creek. Dry lakes occasionally collect run-off during wet years, but then remain wet for only a few weeks. With water being a critical requirement of desert animal life, all known springs and seeps have been improved to enhance the supply. The vegetative zones change markedly with elevation, progressing upward through seven distinct plant communities. The higher peaks are above timber line and have a wind-swept, brushy aspect. The Sheep Range has the only well-developed coniferous forest — one of only four bristlecone pine forests occurring in the entire State. No important ore-bearing zones are known to exist within the boundaries of the study area. In fact, peripheral mineral surveys suggest that these lands are probably the least mineralized in Nevada. No valid patented mining claims existed within the wilderness study area at the time of the study. Visual examination of the area also failed to reveal any valid unpatented mining claims. To assure that a viable population of desert bighorn sheep will be pre- served on the Desert National Wildlife Range, it is necessary that large areas of undisturbed natural habitat be maintained. Thus, it is imper- ative that all sources of major disturbance ultimately be excluded from the area, including mineral exploration. Plans to accomplish this have been initiated by the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife. Areas of most importance to bighorns have already been excluded from applicability of the oil and gas leasing laws. Public use presently totals about 15,000 visits annually. Hiking, bird watching, scenic driving, and outdoor photography are the most popular uses, with Hidden Forest, Mormon Pass and Fossil Ridge the areas of most interest. The Alamo and Mormon Pass Roads provide year-round access for most types of conventional highway vehicles, while a few primitive spur roads permit seasonal access to areas which would otherwise seldom be visited because of water scarcity and the rigors of foot travel in the hot temperatures.