Senators’ visit spotlights new land-use legislation

Friday, June 7, 2002 | 9:13 a.m.

Members of Nevada's congressional delegation will come to Clark County to discuss proposed legislation that would protect hundreds of thousands of environmentally sensitive acres and open up thousands more for development.

Tessa Hafen, spokeswoman for Sen. Harry Reid, the Democratic majority whip, said the road trip "will highlight parts of the bill" for locals.

Reid and Republican Sen. John Ensign introduced the bill Thursday. Hafen said a few details of the bill are still being worked out today, but a final version, complete with maps of the affected land, should be available by Monday at the latest.

The bill would designate 444,000 acres of federal land in Clark County as "wilderness," making it off limits for motorized vehicles of any kind. It would also open up 186,000 acres for development, much of it in the valleys south of the urban core.

Environmentalists, who had hoped to have almost 2 million acres designated as wilderness, and off-road and sportsmen's groups, which had lobbied for only 186,000 acres for wilderness, said Thursday and today that they are cautiously pleased with the bill but look forward to studying the fine print.

Gov. Kenny Guinn joined the chorus welcoming the long-awaited bill, which was first discussed a year ago by Reid and Ensign.

"The continuing rapid growth of Clark County is putting tremendous pressures on its public land," Guinn said Thursday. "It is critical that land be available as needed for community expansion. At the same time we must protect the special natural qualities of our public lands."

Guinn said state agencies will work with the congressional delegation to pass "this vitally needed legislation."

The four federal agencies affected by the bill -- the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service -- also will work with the congressional delegation.

Phil Guerrero, BLM spokesman, said his office continues to provide technical expertise to aid the congressional delegation.

"But when the bill is passed, we're like an army: We will follow our orders," he said.

Steve Holdsambeck, district ranger for the Forest Service's Spring Mountains National Recreation Area, said protecting much of the new wilderness area will not be an especially tough transition because much of the land is already designated at "wilderness study areas."

Those areas are already treated as off-limits to motorized vehicles, he said.

"The transition is that now we have the full authority of the law to enforce regulations," Holdsambeck said.

Once the finished bill is available, the Forest Service will do a full analysis of needs for both wilderness and other areas, including recreational areas, he said.

The bill also could ease a growing problem for the service, he said. While wilderness areas themselves do not have facilities for visitors, recreational areas require those facilities.

"With Las Vegas growing and probably being the top tourist spot in the country, there's not much facilities out there, and the facilities we have are overused," Holdsambeck said.

The sale of federal land for development would help pay for the construction and maintenance of those facilities, Holdsambeck said.

Federal land that is eventually sold to private interests will be split: 85 percent of proceeds will go to the Southern Nevada Land Management Fund to support environmental and recreational needs; 10 percent to the County Airport Authority; and 5 percent to the state eduction fund.