Following the passage of the “Clark County bill”, Nevada’s Senators turned their attention to the north and east.  Specifically, Lincoln and White Pine counties.  Using the same basic template found in the Clark county legislation, the delegation sought to address the myriad of public land and growth issues that the counties were facing.  Initially, White Pine county seemed the next in line for congressional action, but Lincoln county jumped to the head of the pack and the Senators responded by requesting various interest groups provide congress with their vision of the county.

The Nevada Wilderness Coalition was ahead of the game in some respects, as spearheaded by Nevada Wilderness Project, we had already field inventoried and proposed land in Lincoln County as part of the Citizens’ Proposal for Nevada’s Mojave Desert Region.  There was however much work to do in the county and ultimately we released a report, Citizens’ Wilderness Proposal: Lincoln and White Pine Counties, in June 2003, that recognized both the likelihood that White Pine county might be addressed after any Lincoln County legislation and the Coalitions’ resolve to look at broader ecological implications for wilderness, as opposed to just county-boundary implications.  As in the past, the Nevada Wilderness Coalition expressed the concern that a “county process” was not our preferred way of addressing wilderness in the state, and reserved the right to not participate in this legislative effort if we felt wilderness was not being given a fair shake.  In the end however, over 760,000 acres of wilderness was recognized by Congress and we continued to make inroads to protecting areas previously not recognized by the federal land managers as having wilderness characteristics.  From towering pine covered peaks to Mojave-bajada, the Lincoln County legislation protected some spectacular landscapes.  More needs to done however, as still unresolved are the incredible wilderness landscapes of the Desert National Wildlife Range, the Pahranagat Range and its rich pre-settlement history, and the wide stretches of cholla and wash that extend south from Lime Mountain towards Mesquite.

The challenges faced by public land in Nevada are great, so it is no surprise that legislation dealing with these challenges represents a continuum of uses, some of which are most decidedly not based in conservation.  Like the Clark County legislation, Lincoln County was NOT a wilderness bill.  While it did protect the largest single amount of wilderness ever designated in the state, the bill also provided for release of some wilderness quality land, conveyance of public land for private/local uses, and legislated rights of way for water to be provided to fuel the growth of Las Vegas.  We testified before Congress in opposition to the rights of way for water pipelines and while we recognized the right of county to seek land for future growth, we opposed the amount of land identified for disposal.

All of the legislative efforts we have been involved, and are likely to be involved, require incredible patience and an understanding that wilderness is not the engine that makes these congressional imperatives possible.  Growth is what makes these bills possible.  It is a tough pill to swallow, but as a coalition that works on behalf of wilderness, we recognize that some of what is proposed in these bills is unavoidable and that to ignore congressional intent and the demographic and cultural changes sweeping the West puts our wilderness lands at risk.  Waiting for better times, better congressional representation or just something “better” is not an option in our studied estimation.  We have chosen (up till now) to engage in these challenging efforts, as we strongly believe that not doing so will only result in losses for wilderness. 

We are grateful to our coalition partners and the staff of Nevada’s congressional delegation, especially Senator Reid and Ensign.  We look forward to the day when we can protect the remaining wilderness quality land in Lincoln County.  Until then…