Preservation progress, a little at a time

By Joe Schoenmann (contact)

Sunday, Sept. 20, 2009 | 2 a.m.

In mid-August, the Sun wrote about the National Parks Conservation Association joining the push to designate about 35,000 fossil-filled acres in the northern portion of the Las Vegas Valley as a national monument.

What has happened since that story?

A lot has been going on behind the scenes. Commissioner Tom Collins is close to finishing the wording on a county resolution urging federal authorities to preserve the area because it has the potential to be an educational and economic dynamo.

Additionally, North Las Vegas Mayor Shari Buck, whose city is “highly in favor” of the designation, said she met two weeks ago with staff of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., regarding the Tule Springs area. She said Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., has also expressed “great interest.” This week, she plans to meet with Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman and Las Vegas Councilman Steve Ross to “hear what their concerns might be ... because I’m assuming there’s going to be a partnership and we want to be supporting each other.”

Because of the location of the land, a multi-jurisdictional effort involving Clark County, Las Vegas, North Las Vegas and the federal government will be needed. Much of the acreage is Bureau of Land Management land, and a good portion of it is adjacent to the Paiute Reservation, just to its southwest. The BLM is close to releasing an environmental report on about 13,000 of the 35,000 acres, along with a recommendation for how much of that acreage should be preserved.

Las Vegas is keenly interested in the report, because it doesn’t want to be forced to “leapfrog” over a preserved area to grow northward. In the Sun story, preservationists promised a corridor along U.S. Highway 95 would be kept open for that reason.

Where is Sen. Reid on all of this?

Reid spokesman Jon Summers said last week that the senator is awaiting the BLM’s recommendation. But some details in Summers’ reply hints that the senator’s staff has taken more than passing interest in the idea. “Sen. Reid hopes that the BLM will move expeditiously to get that report released,” Summers wrote. “There are a number of spots around the West, including the Florissant Fossil Beds in Colorado and the Hagerman Fossil Beds in Idaho, that offer models for what we could do with this area. Sen. Reid is looking forward to working with conservation advocates, the City of Las Vegas, the City of North Las Vegas, Clark County and others to figure out how best to proceed with turning this area into a real asset for our communities.”

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Late Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge Robert Jones signed a judicial order forcing the County Commission to hold another hearing on bids for a more-than-$100 million Beltway widening project. Jones’ order nullifies the board’s decision. It also says that two of the commissioners — Tom Collins and Steve Sisolak — “by willing agreement shall abstain from participation in the determination of the bid award.”

But on Friday those two commissioners were considering voting on the bid award anyway or at least participating in the discussion.

Don’t they have to do what the judge says?

Collins said he has his own attorney looking into “whether or not this order from the judge is constitutionally valid, does it violate precepts of separation of powers and all that.”

And Sisolak?

He said the situation has thrown him for a loop and he’s not sure what to do. “What about the next time someone loses a bid with the county? What if they accuse a different commissioner of being too this or too that? I think somebody’s going to try it.” But, he added, he also wants to know if he will be thrown in jail if he votes on the bid award.

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County Quote of the Week

“This is about the entire complement of park police, so as soon as this gets over with, you guys get back out there.”

Clark County Park Police Commander Roy Michael to 10 officers who received commendations from the County Commission on Tuesday. The agency of roughly 18 officers oversees 103 parks spread over 8,000 square miles.