By Vernon Robison
Moapa Valley Progress
The Moapa Town Advisory Board (MTAB) once again tabled action dealing with a proposed Gold Butte National Conservation Area with Wilderness, pledging to take action at its next meeting.
Though the NCA was originally proposed in federal legislation by Rep. Shelly Berkley (D) nearly two years ago, the MTAB has delayed any action or official input on the matter up to now.
The Bunkerville Town Advisory Board (BTAB), representing the community closest to the Gold Butte complex, drafted a document in July of 2009 which proposed a set of criteria to ensure transparency and community input in the decision-making process for all public lands decisions. The BTAB then sought the support from the other Town Boards in northeast Clark County on these criteria.
Last fall, the Moapa Valley Town Advisory Board drafted a letter in support of the BTAB document. But the item still hadn’t been discussed in Moapa until Thursday’s meeting.
“This (document) doesn’t push one agenda or another in terms of the NCA,” explained BTAB Chairman Brian Haviland who was in attendance at the Moapa meeting. “It just sets up some perameters to make sure there is room for everyone in this process to have input. These decisions will affect the town of Bunkerville greatly. We are just asking for your support in our township.”
The BTAB document asserts that public land management decisions ought to be guided by social/economic values including traditional use of the land, human connections to the land, conserving resources, improvements to wildlife habitat and the protection of cultural and historical sites.
The document also suggests that the current model guiding Resource Management Plans, including an extensive open process for public input, should be extended to any management decisions on public lands, especially those as sweeping as an NCA designation.
MTAB Chairman Craig Wolfley expressed some frustration about ongoing public land closures that had occurred without public input. “Every time I go up into the Mormon Mountains area, more roads have been closed off,” Wolfley said. “I think that the idea here is that Bunkerville wants to have a hand in what happens (at Gold Butte). I don’t have a problem with that.”
Wolfley pointed out that the northeast county town advisory boards had supported each other on many issues in the past. “I think that we should support them on this,” he said.
Nancy Hall, President of Friends of Gold Butte, defended the proposed NCA designation. She listed the organizations that had already voiced support for the proposal including Clark County, the City of Mesquite, the Moapa Paiute tribe and the Las Vegas Paiute tribe. She also pointed out that there were no intentions in the NCA proposal to restrict existing access to the land.
“There are no existing uses going on out there right now that won’t be allowed in the proposed NCA,” she said. “The same access will be preserved.”
County Commissioner Tom Collins, who was present at the meeting, stated that the extensive Wilderness area being proposed is land that has no existing trails or paths through it. “We are not closing off anything that is already existing,” he said.
“An NCA means that the area will have a higher level of attention and funding to preserve it for public use,” Collins continued. “In the County resolution the language mentions hunting, camping and even grazing to keep those uses out there.”
Haviland reiterated that the BTAB document didn’t take a final position for or against the NCA. “It is true that we have argued and debated back and forth about the details (of the NCA proposal),” he said. “But this document doesn’t really take a stand on the specifics one way or another. It is just a set of criteria for making decisions on public lands, to ensure that decisions are not made in isolation but that they involve everyone.”
MTAB member Don Davis said he had observed a trend toward exclusion of the public from public lands. “There seems to be this elitist attitude prevalent nowadays to lock the public out in order to preserve the land,” Davis said. “People with disabilities can’t even go out to Arrow Canyon anymore because it is a restricted area. I think there needs to be more of a balance and I don’t see it happening. It seems like Bunkerville is just looking to restore some balance here.”
Davis stated that the BTAB document didn’t seem to be at cross-purposes with the proposed NCA, per se. “I’m not sure that we are talking about opposing sides here,” he said. “Bunkerville is asking for consideration of multi-use in certain areas and for public input on decisions. The other side is wanting to protect sensitive areas. I don’t see the problem with this.”
Davis asked Collins if he had any problem with the Bunkerville document. “I haven’t read it,” Collins admitted.
MTAB member Ann Schreiber expressed opposition to the BTAB document. “There is a lot going on in Gold Butte by a lot of people to keep it protected,” she said. “I don’t think it should be up to one town.”
Schreiber suggested that, since some MTAB members had admitted to still not having read the document, that action on the matter be tabled to the next meeting. MTAB member Lyn Wren made a motion to table the item. Davis said he would second the motion only if a vote was taken on the matter at the next meeting.
“We can’t just keep tabling this,” he said. “We have tabled it again and again over the past several months.”
The motion to table the item was approved with a unanimous vote.
