Varied groups eager to see draft of wilderness proposal

Friday, May 31, 2002 | 9:28 a.m.

Clark County could get a look at important new legislation affecting development and environmental protection next week.

Tessa Hafen, spokeswoman for Sen. Harry Reid's office, said Thursday that Reid and Sen. John Ensign plan to release a draft of the Clark County Public Lands Bill and accompanying map next week.

The bill would designate permanent federal "wilderness" areas off limits to new roads and development. When Reid and Ensign proposed the legislation a year ago, they said the bill also would open up thousands of acres for development, particularly in southern Clark County near Interstate 15 and the proposed Ivanpah Valley airport.

Since Reid, Democratic majority whip, and Ensign, a Republican, proposed the legislation a year ago, the senators' staffs have worked with nonprofit groups, the state and the federal Bureau of Land Management to craft the bill.

Don Dayton, spokesman for Southern Nevada Off Road Enthusiasts, was satisfied after viewing the bill draft.

"It looks, by and large, pretty good from the (land) users' standpoint," he said. Dayton added that some details in the bill might need tweaking from the perspective of his organization, which wants to maintain access to much of the county for off-road vehicle use.

Others who have worked with Reid and Ensign's staffs over the last year said they are eager to get a look at the bill draft.

"We're hoping to see something soon, and we're hoping to see a good bill with sufficient wilderness protection," said Carrie Sandsted, wilderness conservation organizer for the Sierra Club. "We've given them what we want to see in the bill."

What Sandsted and other activists want to see in the bill is 4.1 million acres of official wilderness carved out of property managed by the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service in Southern Nevada, with about 2 million acres in Clark County.

The environmentalists' agenda contrasted dramatically with the agenda of groups supporting mixed-use purposes, including the Nevada Wildlife Commission.

The commission, a state agency, and the Nevada Land Users Coalition, a nonprofit group, supported wilderness designation for about 186,000 acres.

John T. Moran Jr., chairman of the commission, said he has not seen the bill draft either -- but eagerly anticipates the introduction next week.

"We're hopeful that the congressional staff, the senators and their staff, will follow the resolution that we passed," Moran said.

Jeremy Garncarz, Southern Nevada director of Friends of Nevada Wilderness, supports the bigger designation for wilderness but shares Moran's anticipation of a look at the bill.

"We're kind of holding back our judgment on this until it is introduced," Garncarz said. "We look forward to seeing what exactly the wilderness component will have.