Accidental trespass frequent problem on public lands

Friday, Aug. 20, 1999 | 4:07 a.m.

With nearly 3 million acres of Clark County's land to monitor, Bureau of Land Management officials in Las Vegas say illegal roads, wells and buildings probably pop up in sensitive areas more often than they know.

BLM officials inspect the areas where they have issued use permits to make sure those using the land are doing it properly.

But there's no way they can keep a sharp eye on all 2.9 million acres at once, said Cheryl Ruffridge, lead realty specialist for the Las Vegas BLM district.

And they often rely on residents to notice when something is out of place, she said. If the complaint turns out to be valid BLM officials issue a trespass violation -- if they can figure out who built the road or added a well.

Ruffridge's office issues five to 10 violations a year in this area.

Most violators are people who already have permission to do something on BLM land. And most of those people are developers or utility company workers, Ruffridge said.

Still, most violations -- like the one for which Nevada Power Company was issued an Aug. 11 trespass notice -- are accidents.

The power company had permission to erect power poles in a 130-acre area of BLM land southwest of Henderson. But workers violated the agreement by building a 10.4-mile dirt road in the area. And 1,500 feet of it extended into a wilderness study area and endangered desert tortoise habitat.

Power company officials have said the encroachment was an accident. BLM officials said the company must take out the road and restore the area to its original state.

Boundary information or special directions can be lost in the long chains of command characteristic of large utility or land development companies, Ruffridge said.

It's up to the bureau to figure out where the weak spots are and make sure the oversights don't happen twice.

"By the time it gets to the subcontractor for the subcontractor, it's not communicated. We learn from every one of them what more we need to do, Ruffridge said. "We've really increased our written controls."

Those controls are called stipulations. BLM officials have a set list of them for each of the 220 to 300 land-use permits issued each year.

For instance a stipulation might tell a contractor he can drive a vehicle over certain areas only once. It also might restrict the types of vehicles that are allowed in the permit area.

Land management officials used to have eight or nine such restrictions. In the past five years that number has risen to about 20 because urban growth has increased the demand for permits and the chance for trespassers, Ruffridge said.

Encroachment by developers and utility companies is unique to Southern Nevada and parts of the burgeoning Reno area, said Steve Smith, BLM state wilderness coordinator.

Few if any permits are allowed in wilderness study areas because the whole point is to keep those areas as pristine as possible until Congress decides whether to give them permanent wilderness status, Smith said.

In other rural areas trespassers are likely to be mining illegally or digging wells and building dams to boost water supplies in cattle grazing areas, he said.

"It's usually unintentional. They generally are honest mistakes," Smith said.

But even an innocent mistake can have egregious results in sensitive areas. Ruffridge said no endangered tortoises were reported killed as a result of Nevada Power's road.

But that's no guarantee it didn't happen.

"We do take it very seriously," Ruffridge said.