Amodei fails in bid to sell Nevada's Public Lands
Earlier this month, Nevada Congressman Mark Amodei learned the hard way that Americans love their public lands and politicians better not mess with them. He faced the fury of outdoor recreationists from across the country after he made a clandestine move to amend a must-pass bill to mandate selling off public lands to help raise money for tax cuts in the federal budget process. The bi-partisan backlash ended with the egregious amendment being stripped from the bill.
With the move, Amodei tried to eviscerate the decades-old process in Nevada that relies on cooperation among stakeholders to craft balanced public lands legislation that meets a variety of conservation and community needs. He actually tried to mandate selling off about 450,000 acres of public land with NO additional conservation designations. Friends Executive Director Shaaron Netherton said Amodei “betrayed all Nevadans” with the move.
There’s nothing like the threat of losing access by selling off public lands to rile up conservationists, hunters, anglers, off-roaders, hikers, wildlife watchers and the entire spectrum of folks who treasure their public spaces. Thanks to them this catastrophic amendment was stripped. For now. We must remain vigilant. The attack on our public lands is not over.
Amodei says because he agreed to have the amendment stripped from the bill, House Leadership promised his Northern Nevada Public Lands bill that DOES call for new conservation designations in Pershing and Douglas Counties would get priority treatment. We’ll be paying careful attention.
The original bill would create seven new Wilderness Areas in Pershing County and Douglas Counties and help resolve the more than century-old checkerboard pattern of land ownership that inhibits use of the land for both conservation and economic development purposes.It would designate more than 136,000 acres of new Wilderness Areas:
- Fencemaker - at the northern end of the Stillwater Range (Much of the range to the south in Churchill County received permanent conservation designations in 2022 legislation)
- Grandfathers' (Tobin Crest)
- Cain Mountain (Portions of the former Augusta Mountains WSA have already been designated as Cain Mountain Wilderness in Lander and Churchill Counties)
- Bluewing
- Selenite Peak
- Mt. Limbo
- North Sahwave
And thanks to Senator Jacky Rosen who reintroduced her version of the bill which would also transfer land into trust to the Lovelock Paiute Tribe to expand their tribal cemetery.
Overall, the bill protects a significant amount of land for conservation and recreation use for future generations; keeps proceeds from the sale of a limited amount of public land in Pershing County to buy, conserve and protect additional sensitive lands; allows current mining claim holders to contribute to the Pershing County economy and resolves the unmanageable checkerboard land pattern that has strangled wise use of the land.
Previous versions of the bill have been supported by former and current Nevada elected officials. Friends is hopeful that the legislation will move through Congress this year and finally be signed into law.
