Thursday, Feb. 26, 2015 | 5:25 p.m.
A rally organized by the Sierra Club is scheduled for Monday to protest a measure in the Nevada Senate calling for the federal government to turn over certain lands to the state.
The demonstration at the legislative building in Carson City urges defeat of Senate Joint Resolution 1 sponsored by Sen. Pete Goicoechea, R-Eureka, and other GOP senators. It wants the federal government to initially deed 7.2 million acres now controlled by the Bureau of Land Management in Northern Nevada to the state.
Anne Macquarie of the Sierra Club said Thursday that the state does not have enough money to manage these lands and that they might be blocked from public use.
“The prospect that these lands may be sold to the highest bidder with a consequent posting of 'no trespassing' signs across the state, is unacceptable to many Silver State residents,” the group said.
The Senate resolution says federal ownership constrains economic development of these lands.
The resolution said lands excluded from any transfer would be wilderness, critical environmental areas, military and energy installations and Indian reservations.
The Senate resolution is the outcome of a study by the Nevada Land Use Management Task Force. The federal government controls and manages about 80 percent of the land in Nevada.
The Sierra Club said in a press release: “The public lands are enjoyed by innumerable Nevadans and visitors to our state and already generate billions per year in revenues to businesses and to the state through outdoor recreation activities.”
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