Editorial: Chill, in time, may thaw

Sunday, April 23, 2000 | 9:17 a.m.

The battle over public lands in Nevada has created long-standing animosities. Often on one side are environmentalists and conservation officials, who are pitted against local government officials, business interests and outdoor enthusiasts. Instead of a dialogue, these debates frequently degenerate into shouting matches. So rather than finding common ground, their intransigence forces them even further apart.

In an effort to get these feuding groups talking again, state Sen. Dean Rhoads, R-Tuscarora, and Assemblywoman Marcia de Braga, D-Fallon, held a conference in the Northern Nevada town of Verdi last week. It is encouraging that as many as 270 people attended, which included not only elected officials -- such as Nevada U.S. Sens. Harry Reid and Richard Bryan -- but also environmentalists, outdoor enthusiasts, ranchers, farmers and miners. They discussed what to do about access to public lands, wilderness areas, roadless areas, wildlife and watersheds.

While these contentious issues weren't resolved, at the same time no one realistically thought a two-day conference would suddenly spawn a new harmony. After all, Nevada was home to the so-called "Sagebrush Rebellion," which was spawned in the late 1970s by rural residents of the state who wanted to gain control of federal land. Meanwhile, government conservation employees have felt besieged in the past decade. For instance, federal conservation offices in Nevada were bombed during the mid-1990s and a bomb even exploded outside the home of one Forest Service employee in 1995. The recent controversy in Elko County in which local residents insist on rebuilding a washed-out road on Forest Service land -- an action the Forest Service worries could lead to soil erosion that would threaten the endangered bull trout -- has only served to heighten tensions.

Conservation policies advanced by Washington officials sometimes don't adequately seek local input, which contributes to the antagonism. But in recent years it has been the intolerant rhetoric of a vocal minority in some rural communities, such as that in Elko County, that has caused the fissures. This hostile environment has been made worse by local and state officials, who have fanned the flames instead of showing leadership by urging common sense solutions. Rhoads and de Braga are to be commended, then, for trying to get all sides talking again. The key now is to keep this going, as Rhoads and de Braga plan to do, in a way that emphasizes dialogue instead of demagoguery.