By Sandra Meck
Once again, the Truckee Meadows Public Lands Management Act aka Washoe County Lands Bill has resurfaced from 2018.
Washoe County has done little to educate or inform the general public about the content of this horrific bill or its ramifications.
Nevada Senator Jackie Rosen (Las Vegas) has unveiled a working draft with maps of the Truckee Meadows Public Lands Management Act, www.landsbill.org.
This bill has three basic parts. The initial part is the conveyance of specific lands from BLM’s public land to local government – Washoe County, Reno, Sparks and other entities.
The second part of the bill is the disposal for economic development. Washoe County, Reno, Sparks and other entities would
acquire public land from the BLM for development. Note: Washoe County, Reno, Sparks and other entities can go directly to BLM and request land.
There is no need for this gregious bill. Mayor Ed Lawson of Sparks is well-aware of this fact as I have told him in the past along with Commissioner Jeanne Herman who has also spoken to him.
The remaining part of the bill is called conservation designations. According to the bill along with the maps from the environmentalists, there will be an additional 715,806+ acres that will no longer be public land for multi-use.
These lands will have numerous restrictions andregulations. In addition, there is no cost analysis to implement these changes nor is there any language on how the lands are to be regulated which is irresponsible.
Public lands already have enough restrictions and requirements that must be met before they are put to public use. More restrictions are not needed.
Senator Jackie Rosen (Las Vegas) has stated that she is “a champion for Nevada’s public lands”. What Senator Rosen has failed to disclose is that she is a champion for the privileged elite group – the environmentalists, excluding all others.
Our public lands are not exclusively for one special interest group – the environmentalists who try to take away our public lands and dictate our public lands as if it is their own private land.
Public lands are for all Nevadans and Americans not a select few. Who has decided that our public lands need protection?
The environmentalists? I believe that our public lands need protection from the environmentalists who are in collusion with our government.
I am an advocate of all people and groups, and I don’t believe in discrimination or exclusionarypolicies or bills. I find it difficult to believe that Senator Rosen is authorizing a bill that excludes multi-users on Nevada’s public land.
It doesn’t take any intelligence to figure out that any time you create boundaries as with the conservation designations in this bill, you produce restrictions which will keep Nevadans and multi-users off public land. Conservation designation boundaries mean the three R’s – Restrictions, Regulations and Rules! An additional 715,806+ acres of public lands will no longer be multi-use for all Nevadans!
Nevada and Nevada’s public lands have long enjoyed a symbiotic relationship with ranching, farming, sporting, hunting, fishing, wildlife, logging, recreation, burning man, recreational vehicles, and mining. Within these stakeholders, great care, laws and regulations have been implemented to ensure that our public land and environment are well-protected and our public land is for all.
In recent years, our government has had a consistent theme in getting people off public land. If the Truckee Meadows Public Lands Management Act aka Washoe County Lands Bill is passed, it will set a bad precedent for Nevada and the rest of the Nation.
Our public land is not for select special interests groups to claim for their own agenda negating our past history of multi-use public land.
We have a responsibility to our children and future generations to keep our land public as public lands include all interest groups.
Sandra Meck Reno, Nevada
Advocate for Public Lands for All Nevadans