The Nevada Lands Task Force continues to explore ramifications of whether Nevada should request state control of more federally-controlled public lands within its borders.
Members spent the majority of their February meeting hearing from Don Pattalock, president of New Nevada Lands.
New Nevada Lands purchased 1.25 million acres originally given by the federal government to the Central Pacific Railroad in the 1860s as an incentive to build the transcontinental railroad.
The land, stretching from Reno to West Wendover, changed hands from a publicly held company, Nevada Lands and Resources, to privately-owned New Nevada Lands, in 2011, in one of the largest land sales in U.S. history - purchase price $31 million.
Approximately 85 percent of land within Nevada is owned by federal, state, and tribal governments, leaving only about 15 percent privately owned. The New Nevada Land holdings make up over a tenth of the privately held land in Nevada (an area about the size of the state of Rhode Island).
Pattalock said he has been involved with these lands for 20 years and directly involved with their management for the past 15 years. He spoke from that expertise on the types and amounts of revenue the state might expect from transfer of some federal lands into state management.
Task Force Chairman Demar Dahl said the Legislative Public Lands Committee specifically asked the task force to look into how Nevada would pay the costs of managing public lands should the state gain control.
Pattalock was invited to share his expertise, which is very specific to managing the "checkerboard" type lands along the railroad corridor. The task force has not made any specific decisions on lands Nevada should request be transferred to state management but have agreed it appears the checkered ownership of lands along the railroad corridor is a natural place to start.
Those lands are difficult to manage and less valuable as either public or private lands because relatively small blocks of land shift between public and private ownership.
Pattalock also pointed out the part private, part public railroad corridor lands do not include any forest service lands, noting the advantage of having one less federal entity to deal with.[[In-content Ad]]
