http://www.elkodaily.com/display/inn_news/news2.txt

BLM gaining acreage in Nevada
By JEFFRY MULLINS, Associate Editor
ELKO -- The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has grown larger in Nevada
through land exchanges and more are planned in the future.
"We manage 48 million acres in the state of Nevada," State Director Bob
Abbey told a joint meeting of Resource Advisory Councils Thursday in Elko.
"In the past five years, the BLM in Nevada has patented nearly 80,000
acres," Abbey said, "and we have received about 137,000 acres in exchange.
So you can see that we are not having any net loss, actually we're gaining
a
little bit."
The BLM is generating revenue through land sales, and that revenue can be
used to acquire environmentally sensitive lands, he said.
The agency is planning to dispose of 20,000 acres for projects such as the
Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act, a new airport outside of Las
Vegas, swaps in Lincoln County, and other parcels "that might have some
meaningful economic impact to the local communities."
"Within the next five-year period we hope to offer for disposal 100,000
acres of public lands" out of the 800,000-plus acres identified in the BLM's
land-use plan, he said.
Abbey unveiled the agency's five-year "Legacy" plan to the RACs assembled
at
Elko Convention Center.
"The future of Nevada in large part will be shaped by the future of public
land management," he said.
"And why is that? Because 68 percent of the land base in Nevada is public
lands managed on behalf of the American public by the Bureau of Land
Management."
"We don't have all the answers," Abbey told the group. "We're learning every
day. And we're learning from our mistakes. But we're trying to apply those
lessons to how we manage public lands."
"We continue to want the critics overlooking our shoulders, asking
questions. We want the advice that the science community brings to the
table. We want the advice and counsel of the users of public lands so we
can
take all this good information and use it in the decision process."
Abbey said the BLM's priorities at the national level include energy,
minerals and rights-of-ways; urban interface and community support; cultural
resource protections; and special areas, including newly designated national
monuments and national conservation areas.
"We want to preserve Nevada's characteristic wide-open spaces," Abbey said.
"We want to work with the people of Nevada to determine which WSAs
(wilderness study areas) should be managed as wilderness and which ones
should be released from wilderness consideration by Congress.
"We want to consolidate land ownership into manageable blocks and move
forward with appropriate land disposals.
"We want to preserve the opportunity to pursue the Western rural lifestyle
and values of agriculture and ranching as a way of life.
"We want to encourage Native Americans to enhance their traditional cultural
values.
"We want to strengthen the environmental conservation ethics among public
lands users," he said.
Everyone wants clean air, clean water and a healthy environment, Abbey said,
but the public lands are becoming increasingly necessary for energy
production. These developments include alternative sources such as
geothermal and wind, as well as the traditional oil and gas.
"We want to focus our limited funding on those things that are truly
important to the people we serve," Abbey said.
Specific goals set by the BLM in Nevada over the next five years include:
¥ Converting Battle Mountain's field office into a training center for the
entire state and establishing a new field office in Tonopah.
¥ Building a new wild horse facility complete with a visitor information
and
interpretive center.
¥ Treating 1 million acres of vegetation under the Great Basin Restoration
Initiative.
¥ Fencing or backfilling all abandoned mine sites that are near BLM
recreation sites or population centers.
¥ Purchasing all seed for rehabilitation work from Nevada sources instead
of
from out of state as is currently done.
¥ Providing sufficient water for fisheries at Walker Lake.
¥ Expanding the agency's education initiative "to bring public lands to
the
people."
¥ Hiring 20 percent of new recruits from applicants who are minorities or
persons with disabilities.
¥ Creating a Web-based, automated records system.
¥ Opening the California Trail Interpretive Center near Elko within three
years.
¥ Completing the Black Rock Desert National Conservation Area management
plan within the three-year time limit.

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Scott Riebel
Director of Environmental Affairs
United Four Wheel Drive Associations
www.ufwda.org