Public Lands

A lot of sound and fury is expected at the Legislature Tuesday as supporters of a bill challenging federal control of Nevada public lands descend on the capital by the busload, but it will all be for naught — the proposal has been declared unconstitutional....

Following a February court decision to grant a motion for a preliminary injunction to stop the proposed roundup of more than 300 wild horses in the Nevada Pine Nut Herd Management Area, the Bureau of Land Management Sierra Front Field Office announced this week that it has canceled the roundup with a date to be determined.

Horse advocates said the decision to cancel the roundup is a victory.

Tell BLM how you want your public lands managed. Thursday, March 26 from 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. in the Sierra Room of the Community Center, join the Pinenut Mountain Trails Association meeting on how to be effectively heard by the Bureau of Land Management.

The meeting, led by Don Amador of the Blue Ribbon Coalition, will explain BLM’s Resource Management Plan and teach effective letter writing. Amador has many years of experience in land policy intervention and has been successful in getting positive gains for public land users.

CARSON CITY — A Senate resolution that asks Congress to convey more than 7 million acres of federal land to state control generated a large volume of testimony on both sides of the issue at a Monday hearing, but the issue appeared to be as polarizing as ever. Ranchers, farmers and some rural Nev...

Protesters gathered outside the Nevada Legislature today to preemptively rebuke a Republican-backed resolution calling for the federal government to transfer public lands to the state. Detractors say a state land grab ......

Gerlach – As we enter a New Year, it’s time for artists to share their thanks in celebrating one of Northern Nevada's icons by applying for spring residencies at the Black Rock Desert High Rock Canyon Emigrant Trails National Conservation Area. Applications will be accepted until March 31.

Environmental groups and the U.S. Forest Service signed a settlement agreement earlier this month that ends a decade-long legal battle over the 2004 Sierra Nevada Framework Forest Plan Amendment, which affects management of the Sierra Nevada national forests in California.

Described as a historic package of Northern Nevada lands bills — six introduced by Congressman Mark Amodei and one by Rep. Steven Horsford — will be up for final passage in the House as a bipartisan suspension bill on Monday, Sept. 15.

The U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit plans to restore wetlands and remove the dam at the site of the former Incline Lake, according to a decision by Forest Supervisor Nancy Gibson issued Wednesday.

A 32-year-old Tuolumne County man, Keith Matthew Emerald, has been indicted on four counts of allegedly starting last year's 250,000-acre Rim Fire, the largest fire in the Sierra Nevada in recorded history. United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner and U.S. Forest Service Pacific Southwest Regional Forester Randy Moore announced the indictment Thursday.

The Rim Fire, which burned for nine weeks and sent heavy smoke that choked Carson City, Carson Valley and Lake Tahoe air for weeks, included large areas in the Stanislaus National Forest and Yosemite National Park.

The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday passed Nevada Congressman Mark Amodei’s bill known as Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe – Fish Springs Ranch Settlement Act, by a bipartisan voice vote.

The bill, H.R. 3716, would ratify an agreement between the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe and Fish Springs Ranch to resolve a dispute over water rights near Reno. It is expected to be passed by the Senate and signed into law.

Join Karl Neathammer and Shelly Aldean on Capital Crossfire with guests Jeff Fontaine and Demar Dahl as they discuss the effort to persuade the federal government to relinquish its control over millions of acres of land in the western United States.

Fontaine has been the executive director of the Nevada Association of Counties since 2007. Before that he was director of the Nevada Department of Transportation.

A group of horseback riders who left from Elko on Memorial Day arrived Friday in Carson City to present Gov. Sandoval with a petition regarding the BLM and its position on grazing reductions on federal lands and the closure of an allotment in Lander County.

Sandoval met with about 40 ranchers and told them he would make sure their concerns were heard by top brass at the BLM. Many said they were concerned about ongoing allotment reductions throughout Nevada, including those in the Battle Mountain District.

Capital Crossfire takes on the Margins Tax this week as Karl Neathammer and Shelly Aldean speak with guest Karen Griffin with Faiss Foley Warren, a Las Vegas public relations firm that specializes in government relations.
The three discuss the Nevada Margins Tax Initiative and its predicted impacts on business, education and future economic growth.

The issue will be Question 3 in Nevada's November general-election ballot. If it is approved by a majority of voters, the tax would impose a 2 percent tax on a business' margins after allowable deductions are taken. Only businesses that gross $1 million annually or more will be subject to the tax.

After years of relative non-enforcement and mounting concerns of vandalism, trash dumping and illegal off road riding on public land designated as open space and not for motorized use, the Carson City Sheriff's Office will step up patrol of the Prison Hill Recreation Area south to Fifth Street.

I am always amused by those individuals who attach themselves to the United States Constitution in such a way as to be literal in its interpretation, wrap themselves in the Flag of our Nation, and call themselves “true patriots” and the defenders of our “rights and liberties”.

Apparently, if I disagree with their definition of “true patriotism” then I am something less than a citizen or patriot incapable of defending our “rights and liberties”.

The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Governing Board approved a $10 fee hike Thursday for its watercraft inspection, invasive species decontamination program, reduced marina funding for the programs and agreed to close an inspection facility at Homewood, officials said.

The fee hike was one of the changes to the watercraft inspection program recommended by the multi-agency Lake Tahoe Aquatic Invasive Species Coordinating Committee following a reduction in the federal funding that has helped support the program since it began in 2009, according to a news release.

On the morning before the 30-month anniversary of his first election to the U.S. House, Congressman Mark Amodei of Carson City filed for reelection Wednesday at the Secretary of State’s office as a Republican candidate for Nevada’s 2nd District.

One of Lake Tahoe's biggest funding mechanisms for clarity and restoration efforts, as well as millions for parks, trails and firefighting efforts in the state, money drawn from the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act, is under threat by members of the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee.

Nevada Sen. Harry Reid on Wednesday denounced House efforts to gut the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act as part of the Tule Springs legislation mark-up to take place Thursday morning.

University of Nevada Cooperative Extension’s Bootstraps Program has received the 2013 Partners in Conservation Award from the U.S. Department of the Interior, one of only 20 programs across the nation to receive this award for achievements in conservation of natural resources that include collaborative activity among a diverse range of entities.

The House Natural Resources Committee on Tuesday passed the Lyon County Economic Development and Conservation Act coupled with six other Nevada public lands bills out of the Committee sponsored by Representatives Mark Amodei (NV-2) and Steven Horsford (NV-4).

An avid equestrian with nearly 20 years experience, Samantha Szesciorka, her horse and dog set out from Baker, near the Utah border, to experience Nevada unplugged.

More than 450 miles and one month later, she arrived in Reno with a new appreciation for pioneering travelers who shaped the state more than 150 years ago. Her stories, images and insights are the focus of “The Nevada Discovery Ride: Pioneering in the Modern Age” lecture at the Nevada State Museum in Carson City from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 23.

As Washington, D.C. faces another government shutdown, hunters, anglers and trappers across the country are facing a shutdown of their own. From Alaska to Florida, sportsmen and women are finding that the budgetary standoff in Congress is having a direct impact on their hunting or fishing season.

Increasing numbers of people visiting Nevada's public lands is creating an overload of work for archaeologists and other state employees who monitor them.

Investigators from the U.S. Forest Service Law Enforcement & Investigations and Tuolumne County District Attorney's Office have determined the Rim Fire began when a hunter allowed an illegal fire to escape.

There is no indication the hunter was involved with illegal marijuana cultivation on public lands and no marijuana cultivation sites were located near the origin of the fire. No arrests have been made at this time and the hunter's name is being withheld pending further investigation, according to a Forest Service news release.

The State Historic Preservation Office, Nevada Site Stewardship Program, is pleased to announce a Stewardship Workshop to be held at the Churchill County Museum on Sept. 7 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. This workshop is free of charge and is open to all who are interested in volunteering to help protect Nevada’s heritage.

The museum is located at 1050 South Maine Street, Fallon.

With a heat wave developing throughout the region, the Carson City Fire Department has now implemented fire restrictions on city and privately owned lands within Carson City, according to the city's website.

Tinder-dry vegetation, lingering drought conditions, increasing daytime temperatures and several human-caused fires have prompted the Bureau of Land Management Carson City District Office, the Carson and Bridgeport Ranger Districts of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Nevada Division of Forestry’s to announce the implementation of fire restrictions today, Friday, June 28.

Here is this week's fishing report for rivers, lakes and streams in Nevada, Northern California and the Sierra. Be sure to pack your sunscreen and plenty of cool beverages. Temperatures will heat up in the valleys near the century mark and 90 degrees or better in the Sierra.