Humboldt and Pershing County Commissioners are being strongly encouraged to give targeted input on the second version "discussion draft" of the "Nevada Sagebrush Landscape Conservation and Economic Development Act."
United States Senators Harry Reid (D-NV) and Dean Heller (R-NV) teamed up around the first of the year to take what they termed a leadership role in efforts to forestall endangered species listing for sage grouse by proposing permanent wilderness designation to Wilderness Study Areas (WSAs) in Nevada that include sage grouse habitat.
Opposition to the additional wilderness designations from state and county rural elected officials hasn't slowed the proposal's momentum.
Jim Jeffress, who has long worked on land and natural resources issues in northern Nevada, told the commissioners Aug. 5, that since the discussion draft legislation is moving forward over rural opposition, continuing to take a "no way" stance will rob rural counties of the opportunity to give input and maybe get some positive things they'd like to have as part of the proposed legislation.
Jeffress got the go-ahead several months ago to work with Humboldt County Extension Agent Brad Schultz to gather information for county input and consider what requests the county might be able to make. Jeffress said he and Schultz scrambled to meet with affected permittees as quickly as possible to identify some of the most problematic areas involved in the proposed wilderness designations. Jeffress and Schultz studied the maps of the proposed wilderness designations and involved Sharon Netherton, executive director of the Friends of Nevada Wilderness so that the wilderness group's perspective would be part of any input they gave the counties.
Jeffress isn't new to trying to bring together divergent input from people who view wilderness legislation very differently from each other. He, Schultz, and many others developed the Pine Forest lands bill that appears finally to be moving toward Congressional approval again after being stalled for a couple of years.
Referring to the Reid/Heller proposal, Jeffress said, "With this discussion draft legislation there wasn't time for a 'Pine Forest' process."
That process brought together over 25 different stakeholders to work out a lands bill that Jeffress said those who produced it believed designated appropriate wilderness, while preserving multiple use of many other areas. The "Pine Forest process" allowed development of a county lands bill "from the grass-roots up," rather than getting a wilderness designation "from the top down" by Congress.
However, Jeffress said that it appears the senators want to propose the legislation when Congress returns from its recess in September, to have it in before November elections.
Humboldt County Administrator Bill Deist said the deadline he'd been given for county input was Aug. 15.
Given the short time frame, Jeffress said he, Schultz and Netherton focused on possible realignments of the proposed wilderness boundaries that would actually make it possible to do fire rehabilitation and noxious weed treatment of sage grouse habitat and retain multiple use on lands not suitable as wilderness.
Humboldt County Commissioners were in favor of the realignments Jeffress presented and want to pass them along to Nevada's congressional deligation, requesting their inclusion in the final proposed legislation.
"We know there's going to be wilderness in this legislation, so what we're saying is, it makes sense to remove certain areas from the proposed wilderness designation and removing those areas would benefit the sage grouse," said Deist.
Joyce Sheen can be reached at j.sheen@winnemuccapublishing.net.
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