Federal funds from the sale of Nevada’s public lands will fund 36 projects aimed at enhancing recreation and restoration projects throughout Nevada and on the California side of the Lake Tahoe Basin.
The Department of the Interior on Tuesday announced that $375 million raised from land sales under the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act (SNPLMA) will be used to expand recreational opportunities, fund capital improvements, protect wildlife habitat, and reduce threats. announced that it would be split into several projects with the aim of Wildfires are burning across the state.
Since its creation in 1998, SNPLMA, conducted by the Bureau of Land Management, has generated more than $3.5 billion from auctions of approximately 18,000 acres of public land in the Las Vegas Valley.
These sales led to 20 rounds of funding for 179 projects in areas within Nevada, the Lake Tahoe Basin, and Lake Mead National Recreation Area in Arizona. The act originally authorized the sale of approximately 68,000 acres in Clark County, of which approximately 23,000 acres have been sold during SNPLMA’s 26-year history.
“This program will support jobs and local economies, improve recreation in rural and underserved areas, and reduce the amount of land and water in the United States by 2030 under the America the Beautiful Initiative. This is consistent with our commitment to conserve at least 30%,” said Acting Deputy Commissioner Laura Daniel. Davis.
The bulk of the funding, $235 million, was earmarked to support the development of parks, trails, and protected areas across Nevada.
A portion of that $235 million will be used to acquire approximately 19 acres of private land on the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada-Carson Range within the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. This purchase is expected to help protect sensitive species such as the California Spotted Owl, Flaming Owl, and Goshawk while expanding recreational access to public lands.
Funds from the Clark County land sale will also be used to fund a desert tortoise density study on the Boulder City Conservation Easement site to investigate whether the site can support the migration of more desert tortoises. .
Under Clark County’s multi-species habitat protection plan, turtles removed from large construction sites will be relocated to approved locations, including the Boulder City conservation easement where 51 juvenile desert tortoises were transferred last year. It will be done.
Approximately $23 million in funding will promote native plants for restoration and water conservation in Las Vegas, manage illegal roads at Lake Mead National Recreation Area, and develop drinking fountains for bighorn sheep at Desert National Wildlife Refuge. It will also be used to fund five conservation activities, including: Refuges and native trout protection.
Federal land managers have approved $25 million in funding for five projects related to hazardous fuel reduction and wildfire prevention in the Lake Tahoe Basin, Carson City, and Spring Mountains National Recreation Area.
The Eastern Nevada Landscape Restoration Project in White Pine and Lincoln Counties also received nearly $5 million in funding to ensure healthy ecosystems within the Great Basin with an emphasis on treating shrub prairie, pinyon-juniper, and riparian ecosystems. Funding will be provided to promote it.
