Senate committee approves Clark County wilderness bill

Benjamin Grove

Friday, Oct. 4, 2002 | 9:28 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- A Senate panel on Thursday approved a sweeping federal land use plan for Clark County that creates more wilderness areas and paves the way for new development.

The legislation sets aside roughly 450,000 acres now managed by the federal government and protects it as wilderness. Included are lands in Mount Charleston and the McCullough Mountains south of Henderson.

The bill also frees up 183,000 acres for possible public and private development, and outlines details for the planned Ivanpah Valley airport lands 30 miles south of Las Vegas.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on a voice vote approved an amended version of the legislation, first introduced by Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and John Ensign, R-Nev., in June.

The amended version made some boundary changes and settled a water rights disagreement between Reid and Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., who introduced companion legislation in the House. In the end, the water rights provision was wrapped in legalistic jargon that gave Gibbons what he wanted -- water rights issues on wilderness lands will remain within the jurisdiction of Nevada government, not the federal government. Environmentalists opposed that.

But the Las Vegas Sierra Club still supports the bill because it protects so much wilderness and habitat for rare or threatened animals and plants, group member Jane Feldman said.

"This bill does not resolve every issue we have, but it is a bill that we can endorse and get behind," she said.

Gibbons said, "We've reached a very good bill that all sides can feel very proud of."

Unlike most states, the majority of Nevada's geography is owned and managed by the federal government as public land. In recent years as the state has grown and land value skyrocketed, developers, environmentalists, local governments and outdoor enthusiasts have clashed over how to best utilize public lands, especially in Southern Nevada.

The legislation aims to strike a compromise among the groups and lay out a comprehensive plan that avoids piecemeal land deals.

The bill is the result of more than a year of lawmaker meetings with the groups.

Gibbons said he expects the bill on President Bush's desk by the end of the month. Reid was less optimistic but said he was "hopeful" the bill could be approved this year, despite a busy year-end legislative calendar.

"There's time -- I don't know if that means we'll get it done, but there's time," Reid said.

The Reid-Ensign bill also includes a land-swap deal between the Bureau of Land Management and developer Howard Hughes Corp. The BLM would give the corporation roughly 1,000 acres to develop the Summerlin area to the south in exchange for roughly 1,000 acres of land on the eastern edge of the Red Rock Canyon Conservation area.

In other action Thursday the Senate panel passed a bill that transfers 2,240 acres of Bureau of Land Management land to Clark County for a shooting range. The bill was amended to make it clear that the shooting range itself would be confined to a 640-acre "donut-hole" inside the 2,240 acres, which is what the county and Nevada senators had intended, Reid spokeswoman Tessa Hafen said. The rest of the land would act as a buffer.

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