National Conservation Area designation considered

Sandra Chereb

Friday, July 2, 1999 | 9:26 a.m.

RENO, Nev. - The Black Rock Desert, a sprawling expanse of stark, shimmering beauty, would have new federal protections under a proposal being revived by Nevada's two senators.

Sens. Richard Bryan and Harry Reid will tour the playa 100 miles north of Reno next Friday with Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt. Topping their agenda is a discussion about designating the site as a National Conservation Area.

As Black Rock attracts more and more recreationists - from solitude lovers to land-speed record seekers and crowds at large-scale events like the annual Burning Man festival - Bryan and Reid say steps must be taken to protect the desert environment and the pioneer history embedded in its earth.

"This is something that we have been working on and debating for some period of time," said Bryan, who in 1993 drafted legislation that was never introduced because environmentalists and mining interests could not agree on how much of the proposed area should be off limits to mining.

The Black Rock is what remains of ancient Lake Lahontan, which once covered much of northern Nevada and parts of eastern California. At 30 miles wide and more than 150 miles long, it is possible to get lost on the flat empty expanse. From some locations, shimmering waves of heat are all that stand between you and the horizon.

If approved by Congress, the Black Rock would join the Red Rock area near Las Vegas as Nevada's only conservation areas.

"I think we need to preserve this and I think we should do it as soon as possible," said Reid, who expressed frustration with the Bureau of Land Management over what he considered a long-overdue management plan for the area.

"We're tired of waiting," Reid said. "I think we just need to speed things up with all the pressure we're getting from growth in the whole state of Nevada."

The BLM is reworking a proposed management plan after receiving public opposition to measures in its initial draft that favored limiting the number of visitors, curtailing use of off-road and all-terrain vehicles, closing some roads and areas and creating designated camping locations.

BLM spokeswoman JoLynn Worley said another public comment period will be held after the second draft is complete in late summer or early fall.

If a conservation area is created, the plan would be amended to incorporate the dictates of Congress.

Both Reid and Bryan said the intent of a conservation area is not to prohibit recreation, but to protect the region from overuse and abuse. Still, activities such as Burning Man, which draws thousands of people to a temporary city erected on the playa, could be limited depending on the conservation area's ultimate size and parameters set by Congress.

"I don't think it would restrict those kinds of activities, but they would not be able to infringe upon the conservation area," Reid said. "There would have to be protections."

Bryan added that consideration of a conservation area "long predates Burning Man."

A key focus of senatorial concern is preserving the remnants of early pioneers, who traversed the desert along the Lassen-Applegate trail.

In the adjacent High Rock Canyon area, "They wrote in axle grease the name of the family and when they were there," Bryan said.

When the designation was discussed before, Bryan said part of the controversy involved how much of the open desert from High Rock Canyon should be protected.

High Rock itself has already been withdrawn from mining. According to an internal BLM memo, mining representatives have said they would support a mining ban on land within one-half mile on either side of the emigrant trail through the Black Rock.

"We have never been able to reach an agreement with all sides signing off," Bryan said. "We're going to try again."