Friends applauds critical new BLM conservation rule
April 18, 2024 – Friends of Nevada Wilderness, celebrating its 40th anniversary as a statewide non-profit organization dedicated to protecting Nevada’s public lands, is applauding the Biden Administration’s final version of a new rule elevating conservation as a valid “use” of public lands on par with others uses, such as grazing and energy development.
Friends Announces Nevada’s New Save Starry Skies License Plate
April 2, 2024 – To launch International Dark Sky Week, April 2 – 8, Friends of Nevada Wilderness today revealed Nevada’s newest specialty license plate that celebrates the state’s uniquely dark skies. Believed to be the first license plate in the country that features dark sky conservation, the Save Starry Skies plate is expected to be available to the public in May.
Friends of Nevada Wilderness celebrates 40 years as statewide non-profit organization
March 21, 2024 – While some folks who shared a passion for conserving public lands as Wilderness Areas had already been volunteering their time and energy for many years, a fledgling young group called Friends of Nevada Wilderness made it official in 1984 when it filed incorporation papers as a statewide non-profit organization. The purpose, the founders agreed, was to give Nevadans a strong voice in how their wild public lands would be managed for them and for generations to come.
Senators Rosen, Cortez Masto call for hearing to advance Washoe County lands bill
WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senators Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) recently called on the leadership of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee to hold a legislative hearing for the Truckee Meadows Public Lands Management Act as part of a push to bring the bill to the Senate floor for a vote. The legislation, introduced by Senator Rosen and co-sponsored by Senator Cortez Masto, would expand economic development and affordable housing opportunities in Washoe County, support local Tribal communities, increase conservation, protect public lands and outdoor recreation, and keep proceeds from land sales in Nevada for priorities like education and restoration around the Truckee River.
Need Free Spring Break Plans?
From the Las Vegas Review Journal, February 9, 2024 - Every year, spring break offers Southern Nevada college students a brief respite from the strict routine of school.
Some opt to spend it on vacation somewhere else or relaxing at home. That won’t be the case for a set of students and young adults who will camp in the Desert National Wildlife Refuge and restore trails, clean up trash and learn about the diverse and delicate desert ecosystems that make up the Silver State.
Wild Washoe public lands bill introduced in Congress!
January 16, 2024 - The years of time and effort invested by Friends, other conservation groups, tribal leaders and others paid off today when Senator Jacky Rosen introduced the Truckee Meadows Public Lands Management Act in the United States Senate. The Act would protect nearly a million acres of public lands in northern Washoe County; lands valued for their dispersed recreation, wildlife habitat, dark sky and cultural values.
Mountain West News Bureau features Friends' Whitebark pine project
January 4, 2024 - Friends' project to help save a threatened species was featured in a story aired today by the Mountain West News Bureau, carried on public radio stations in six western states. Friends partnered with BLM to first protect, then later gather seeds from the threatened Whitebark pine growing high in the Wilderness in NW Nevada.
Looking back, it was great…looking forward it’ll be even better
January 3, 2024 – Friends experienced a number of “firsts” in 2023 of which we’re pretty proud, and we look forward to experiencing more firsts in the coming year as we celebrate our 40th anniversary in Nevada and the 60th anniversary of the federal Wilderness Act.
Congressman Horsford introduces bill to protect Desert Refuge
November 7 – Congressman Steven Horsford (NV-04) introduced legislation to allow the U.S. Air Force to place vital training equipment for the Nevada Test and Training Range within small tracts of the Desert National Wildlife Refuge. The bill would also permanently protect over 700,000 acres of the Desert National Wildlife Refuge as wilderness to ensure those lands remain accessible for hunting, recreation, and wildlife management.
Sen. Cortez Masto proposes Wilderness in Desert Refuge
October 27, 2023 - As reported by the Nevada Independent, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto has introduced legislation that would expand military use and conservation protections at the Desert National Wildlife Refuge (DNWR), offering up a compromise that could balance both Air Force and environmentalist priorities in one of the few bills expected to pass in a dysfunctional Congress this year. The bill was co-sponsored by Sen. Jacky Rosen.
