Forest Service boss in Nevada receives national award

Friday, April 11, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

The National Wildlife Federation presented U.S. Forest Service Supervisor Robert "Jim" Nelson with its national conservation achievement award for government.

As supervisor for the Humboldt and Toiyabe National Forests, Nelson oversees the largest national forest area in the continental United States.

The federation said it recognized Nelson's challenges came not from the size of his district, but from a militant group of miners, ranchers and local government officials known as the "County Supremacy" movement.

An outgrowth of the Wise Use movement, county supremacists reject federal jurisdiction over public lands, defying rangeland laws protecting the environment.

Nelson has demonstrated a willingness to keep cattle on the public range, but manage the lands for future survival.

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