It has been less than a year since the Nevada Wildlife Commission first heard about a move by the Friends of Nevada Wilderness to persuade Senators Reid and Ensign to introduce legislation, in this session of Congress, to establish more than 4 million acres of Southern Nevada as wilderness. The proposal was shocking on the heels of the recent designation of nearly 1.2 million acres within the Black Rock National Conservation Area and Wilderness in Northwestern Nevada, (see sidebar this page). The Commission requested a presentation on the Friend's proposal, which was delivered at the August 2001 Commission meeting in Elko. Subsequent to that presentation, the Commission unanimously felt that this appointed body, representing sportsmen, ranchers, farmers, conservation groups and the general public needed to go on record with a resolution recognizing the needs and concerns of its many diverse public groups.

The Commission directed the Division of Wildlife's Administrator Terry Crawforth to have his personnel work with sportsmen's groups and evaluated the Friend's proposal in light of the Bureau of Land Management's Wilderness Study Area Environmental Impact Study and develop a reasonable wilderness package for review. Simultaneously, members of the Commission and sportsmen's organizations worked with Senator Reid's and Ensign's staffs to determine the breadth and width of any potential legislation. A group of organized user groups also came to the forefront at this time. The Nevada Land Users Coalition had over 30 member organizations and supporters and worked independently with congressional staff and the public. These efforts culminated in two draft documents largely supportive of each other. The draft Commission Resolution on Wilderness Designations in Southern Nevada and the Nevada Land Users Coalition Recommendations to Congress.

Following a second presentation to the Commission from a national Wilderness advocacy group the stage was set to finalize the Commission Resolution on Wilderness Designations in Southern Nevada. This was done at the October meeting of the Commission in Las Vegas. This Wildlife Commission resolution along with the supportive maps was unanimously approved by the State Wildlife Commission and forwarded to Nevada's Congressional Delegation in December, 2001.

The Commission's Resolution consists of the following points:

• 1. Wilderness designation should be limited to areas of Clark County.
• 2. No portion of the Desert National Wildlife Range should be designated as wilderness.
• 3. 396,997 acres within the Lake Mead National Recreation Area (LMNRA) were recommended to be designated as wilderness consistent with the 1986 LMNRA General Management Plan. A number of roads were recommended to be "cherry-stemmed" to allow for access and camping.
• 4. 186,196 acres of public land and U.S. Forest Service lands were recommended to be designated as wilderness consistent with the 1991 Bureau of Land Management wilderness recommendations. A number of roads were recommended to be "cherry-stemmed" to allow for access and camping.
• 5. Wildlife Management activities in wilderness areas was specified.
• 6. Angling, hunting and trapping were identified as legitimate wilderness activities.
• 7. All other lands in Clark County should be released from further consideration as wilderness.
• 8. Certain motorized activities in wilderness should be authorized relative to fire control and wild horse and burro management.
• 9. All activities should be consistent with the Clark County Multiple

Species Habitat Conservation Plan.

We are anticipating draft Legislation any day, which we expect to be largely supportive of the points outlined in the Commission Resolution and the Nevada Land Users Recommendations.. If this is the case, then we will have cooperatively worked together to achieve the goals of sportsmen, wilderness advocates and the public while protecting and enhancing wildlife and their habitat in Southern Nevada.

(SIDEBAR)

Black Rock National Conservation Area Update

It's been nearly a year and a half since Congress passed, and former President Bill Clinton signed S.B. 2273 designating nearly 800,000 acres in Northern Nevada as the Black Rock National Conservation Area (NCA) and an overlapping 775,000 acres as wilderness. Most of the land in the ten new wilderness areas had not been recommended for wilderness status during the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) wilderness study process. None the less, Northwestern Nevada and the many sportsmen and women that enjoyed this area were relegated in many locations within these ten wilderness areas to walking or riding a horse, over five miles just to reach the toe-slope of mountains that they had previously enjoyed so much.

This past year and a half have not gone without progress in the recovery of some of the previously known access to the mountains locked up by the wilderness designation. Through the efforts of the

Governor's Office, the Nevada Division of Wildlife (NDOW), the Wildlife Commission and various sportsmen's organizations, the State was successful in convincing Senator Harry Reid that something needed to be done to correct some of the problems generated by the passage of S.B. 2273. In the past session of Congress, Senator Reid was successful in passage of a "technical corrections bill" which opened27 roads previously closed by the wilderness legislation and provided for release of some lands which had been left in wilderness study area (WSA) designation. By "cherry-stemming" ( a process that places a 100 foot buffer from the center line of the road to the wilderness boundary) these roads will remain open to mechanized transportation and allow for enjoyment by all who wish to venture into these areas.

The job of planning how these areas will be managed continues today, with NDOW leading the State's effort in assisting the BLM with the development of a Resource Management Plan (RMP) scheduled to be finalized by May of next year. The RMP will direct the BLM in the management of the NCA and wilderness lands, and hopefully will be friendly to wildlife management practices currently being employed by NDOW.. This would include the continued development of "guzzlers" in water deficient areas, trapping and transplanting of big game species to augment populations, aerial surveys, and other mechanized uses for wildlife management and fire fighting.

A View from John T. Moran, Jr. The Chairman of Nevada's Wildlife Commission