By Vernon Robison
Moapa Valley Progress
Published August 20, 2008
The Moapa Valley Town Advisory Board (MVTAB) heard a presentation regarding the future of the Gold Butte area at a meeting on Wednesday, August 13. The presentation was given by Elise McAllister who is the Administrator for the Partners In Conservation (PIC) organization.
McAllister began the presentation by giving some background on the issue. The City of Mesquite has approached the Nevada Congressional delegation to request a new Mesquite Lands Act. This is a proposed land takedown including 5000 acres surrounding the proposed new Mesquite airport on the Mormon Mesa. Senator Harry Reid responded that he would like to see a conservation element as part of the land act. In response to this the Nevada Wilderness Coalition drafted a proposal to create a National Conservation Area with additional Wilderness designations out of 330,000 acres in the Gold Butte region. This proposal was presented as an option to Congressman Jon Porter. Porter is proposing to lead the Mesquite Land Act through Congress.
The Gold Butte NCA proposal was alarming to local residents who feared that it would lead to the eventual closure of lands. “This all seemed very extreme so we did a lot of research on this issue,” McAllister said.
McAllister pointed out that the BLM had just finished working with the public in completing a 4-year long roads designation process in this area. “To readdress all of this now with an NCA and to just throw away the numerous hours and hundreds of public comments that have resulted seemed really disingenuous at this point,” McAllister said.
McAllister also stated that setting aside 330,000 acres as a conservation element for a 5,000 acre takedown seemed tremendously out of balance.
Board members of PIC had met with Porter and his staff members to discuss this issue and had found him entirely willing to listen to the local residents regarding Gold Butte, McAllister said. “The Congressman has told us that whatever the rural town boards recommend on this that is what he is going to do,” McAllister said .
McAllister pointed out that this may constitute a rather unique window of political opportunity for the community in finding an innovative solution to problems at Gold Butte. “I’ve never heard a Congressman say that if the rural residents don’t like this then he’ll immediately pull the plug on it,” McAllister said. “That’s what he has told us so they seem to be willing to listen to us. This may be a chance for us to have a meaningful place at the table and make our own NCA to our own specifications.”
McAllister emphasized that those specifications would need to be spelled out in detail in the legislation that established the NCA. Leaving vague language in the bill would open the door for the management plan to be developed a couple of years later and change everything. “We want strong and clear language right in the bill to make sure that these things happen,” she said.
McAllister presented the Board with a draft document that she said might begin to outline the rural specifications for an NCA.
The draft document placed an emphasis on the public being allowed to access the public lands in a responsible way. The draft called for the recent BLM Roads designation document to be adopted in full by the enacting legislation, thus assuring that all roads be kept open that would be delineated as open in that document.
The draft plan also called for a ‘fluidity clause’. This would mandate that an increase in population and in usage would be factored into the management plan. “As populations and usage increases it is not acceptable to decrease or even maintain the current levels of facilities and opportunities,” the document states. “The language in this bill and the management plan must include avenues to allow and provide for increased use.”
The document also calls for rural involvement in the planning for the NCA and in its management. It recommends the formation of an ad hoc advisory committee made up of local stakeholders. This committee would be directly involved in the development of the management plan and also in the future management decisions of the NCA. No changes to the management plan could be made, or emergency actions taken, without consultation of this committee.
MVTAB Chairwoman, Judy Metz stated that the option to just say no and completely pull the plug on the thing was still there. But taking that option wouldn’t necessarily kill the isue permanently. “Congressman Porter has said that he will respect our wishes even if it means dropping the bill,” she said. “But the one caviat he put out there was that Senator Reid is in a position that he could tack this conservation element onto something else; if not the Mesquite bill. It could get to the end of the session and lots of bills are going through and this could be tacked onto something and, suddenly, it’s passed.”
“Based on the political atmosphere right now, they are willing to listen to us and give us opportunities for us to shape this bill the way we need it,” said MVTAB member Gene Houston, who also serves on the PIC board. “It is important that we participate in this now, because, if we don’t, the next thing you know it will be an NCA anyway and we won’t have anything to say about it. But today they are talking to us.”
“I think that it is great to have the ear of Congressman Porter on this thing,” McAllister concluded. “Now what he is looking for is some direction from this board on what we want him to do from here.”
MVTAB members will review the draft document and plan to discuss an appropriate recommendation at the next meeting on August 27.
