By Vernon Robison
Moapa Valley Progress
Published September 3, 2008
Town Board members from two rural communities with heavy stakes in the Gold Butte area have offered input to Congressman Jon Porter on recent proposals to establish a Gold Butte National Conservation Area (NCA). In response to a request from Porter for local input, the Bunkerville and Moapa Valley TABs, last week, approved letters to be sent to the Congressman to weigh in on the issue.
An NCA designation for the Gold Butte area was suggested earlier this year by the Nevada Wilderness Coalition and Friends of Gold Butte. The proposed NCA would encompass 330,000 acres in the Gold Butte area and would include vast areas of Wilderness designation.
The Gold Butte proposal was raised as a conservation element to a proposed federal Mesquite Lands Act. This legislation, being spearheaded by Congressman Jon Porter, would allow the City of Mesquite to annex 5,000 acres of BLM land on the Mormon Mesa near the site of the City’s proposed new airport site. But Porter has made it clear that he would not support Gold Butte NCA component without the support of residents in the area.
Porter’s staff contacted members of the Partners In Conservation (PIC) organization inb July for input on the Gold Butte proposal. Porter also asked for input from the rural Town Advisory Boards for the direction which should be taken on the issue; promising to honor the wishes of local residents.
In response, PIC drafted an alternative plan for Gold Butte that they hoped would address the conservation element while providing a less restrictive option for the area.
The plan was meant to be a value driven proposal. “We found that, with other NCAs they have started the plan with a strong set of values,” said PIC Administrator Elise McAllister. “We feel that this plan emphasizes our rural values.”
“We feel that our rich culture and heritage of historic use on this land are very important and should be preserved,” Elise continued. “These things are equal in importance to; and no offense intended here; the petroglyphs and other cultural resources out there.”
The PIC plan starts with the need to maintain access to the lands. It requires that all roads that are specified as open in the recent BLM Roads Designation process would remain open in the new NCA management plan.
The plan called for extensive local public input in the management of the area through a large citizens advisory committee made up of various stakeholders. This committee would have a strong voice in the drafting of the management plan for the NCA. Furthermore, no emergency decisions or additional restrictions could be instituted without approval of this committee.
Other elements of the plan included the ability to increase facilities and capacity to meet increased usage, plans for water conservation and spring development, and preservation of cultural resources through education efforts and additional infrastructure.
McAllister presented a draft proposal two weeks ago to the Town Boards in Moapa Valley and in Bunkerville.
Moapa Valley Town Advisory Board (MVTAB) members expressed general support for the plan in a meeting held August 27. “This puts us in a very good position,” said MVTAB Chairwoman Judy Metz. “We are not just saying a flat ‘no’ but we are providing alternatives and solutions. Rather than just giving the area up to be managed for us, it gives us more of a stake and a stewardship over the lands which has been our traditional position.”
MVTAB member Gene Houston acknowledged that there were still risks in the process of establishing an NCA at Gold Butte. He also recognized that local residents could still opt to say ‘no’ and pull the plug on it.
“If we pull the plug now, though, this same issue could come back again next year,” Houston said. “These people [environmental groups] have nothing but time and they can wait it out. But the [Nevada Congressional] delegation is willing to listen to us now. Now is the time to do something about it. The best way is to bring our values and wishes in as part of the enacting legislation. If we do that, then the management plan has to follow the bill.”
MVTAB unanimously approved a draft of a letter to Jon Porter that gave support to the PIC plan. The letter, which was presented to the Board for approval, emphasized that the community did not support the earlier component proposed by the Nevada Wilderness Project. But it also did not rule out the necessity of the Mesquite Land Act or the idea of a sensible conservation element for Gold Butte.
“We formally recommend that you and your staff consider the innovative conservation concepts advanced by the rural communities and Partners in Conservation…and that such language be inserted into the actual bill to ensure such concepts are enacted,” the letter states.
The Bunkerville Town Advisory Board took a somewhat harder line against the idea of an NCA being established at Gold Butte. The Board discussed the issue at length and heard the PIC proposal in a meeting held August 15.
Board members at that time felt that sufficient regulations and laws were already in place to effectively manage the land. “There are laws in place that will take care of these [conservation] issues,” said Board Chairman Duane Magoon. “We do not need one more layer of management.”
In a letter to Jon Porter that was approved in a meeting last week, Bunkerville Town Board members expressed the desire that sufficient funding should be committed to enforcing the existing laws rather than to the establishment of an NCA with the possibility of new restrictions.
“Surely there are funds enough to provide BLM officers to better police Gold Butte and surrounding areas; to more efficiently restrict the undisciplined behavior of those who have little respect for this land and its beauties,” the letter states. “Could not the enforcement of current laws and regulations be added to the Conservation Component of Mesquite’s Land Act allowing revenue for the land sale to pay for the officers?”
The Moapa Town Advisory Board has not yet met to discuss the various Gold Butte proposals and have not taken a position or given any official feedback on the matter.
