BLM to offer land for sale on Internet

Friday, Nov. 10, 2000 | 10:40 a.m.

The Bureau of Land Management for the first time Monday will offer public lands for auction on the Internet.

A total of 76 BLM parcels will be up for bid, bureau land chief Jim Stobaugh said. Of that number, 26 are new parcels and 50 have been previously offered in public sales, he said.

The properties are offered for purchase by the public so environmentally sensitive lands in Nevada can be bought to protect watersheds, wildlife and wildlands.

An auction Nov. 2 earned more than $21.5 million under the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act of 1998. Thirty-seven buyers put down 20 percent of the purchase price to secure the BLM holdings within the developing Las Vegas Valley, said Bob Stewart, BLM spokesman.

The buyers have 180 days to pay the balance of the sales price, he said.

A similar auction held in June earned $16 million from public lands.

The next public lands auction is set for May 3. The auctions will be held twice a year on the first Thursday of May and November each year.

Federal, state and local governments as well as individuals can nominate sensitive properties for protection, Stobaugh said.

The first properties listed for protection were announced by Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt in July.

In addition to protecting environmentally sensitive lands, the Southern Nevada Water Authority and the state education fund share some of the funds collected from the public land auctions.

About 85 percent of the money pays for the needs of national recreation and conservation sites in Nevada with priority given to those in Clark County.

The water authority gets 10 percent and the other 5 percent goes to the Nevada State Permanent School fund.

Before the land act was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Clinton, the proceeds had gone into the Interior Department's general fund.

To bid on available properties, go to the BLM's website (www.nv.blm.gov).