Poll: Nevadans favor more wilderness land

Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2001 | 9:17 a.m.

A poll released by a coalition of environmental groups Tuesday shows widespread support for an increase in federally designated "wilderness" areas statewide and in Clark County.

The poll by the independent firm Mason-Dixon Research of Washington asked 625 Nevada voters if they favored designating public land as wilderness "to protect open space and help ease the impact of urban sprawl."

Statewide, 66 percent of voters polled said they favor more wilderness land. In Clark County, 73 percent said they favored the move.

The margin for error, according to Mason-Dixon, was 4 percent.

The coalition, which includes the Friends of Nevada Wilderness, the Nevada Wilderness Project, the local arm of the Sierra Club and the Wilderness Society, is asking Congress to designate 4.1 million acres as federally protected wilderness in Southern Nevada.

Nevada's U.S. senators, Harry Reid and John Ensign, have said they plan to designate federal land as wilderness as part of an upcoming Clark County public lands bill, which also would set aside land for development.

The wilderness proposal from the environmental groups would allow activities such as hunting, hiking, camping, horseback riding and livestock grazing. It would prohibit industrial activity, commercial or residential development and off-road vehicle use.