Public-lands users asked to take part in conference

WINNEMUCCA —  The U.S. Congress first passed legislation in 1964 charging agencies of the federal government, like the BLM, to identify areas potentially suitable for protection as Wilderness Areas – areas with little or no human footprint.  These areas were designated as Wilderness Study Areas (WSA).

Well, the study is over and those areas suitable for designation as a Wilderness Area have been so classified.  However, the rest of the WSA’s have been left in a sort of designation limbo.  It’s still possible to ride OHV’s there – on designated roadways, hunt, fish, and hike.  Pick&shovel mine operations still exist there and cattle graze.  But any studies being conducted by the federal government are over and their reports have been turned in.

Isn’t it time, asks Trout Unlimited representative Jim Jeffress, those WSA’s be reclassified?  In other parts of Nevada, the designations have changed as part of a county’s land-use bill.  But those changes came about as a function of government.  What Jeffress and Trout Unlimited are proposing is a bottom-up effort – stemming from the community of users.

To that end, Jeffress is organizing a community meeting on Jan. 30 and is inviting interested members of the public to attend and discuss the future of two WSA’s in Humboldt County in the Pine Forest Region:  The Alder Creek and Blue Lakes WSAs.

He notes the process of changing the WSA designation is not the product of one meeting but lots of meetings – as a designation change comes about from an act of Congress.  The first meeting, the organizational meeting, is to get the conversation started.  Over the course of time, Jeffress is hoping the folk who actually use the land can come to a consensus on the appropriate designation for the area.

There are actually multiple possibilities.  One option is to simply lobby Congress to lift the designation.  At that point it is open to recreational use.  But that opens the door to a large human footprint, and there might be some folk out there who’d like to see the area retain a little of its wilderness features.  Isn’t that the point of getting away from it all?

Another option would be to lobby Congress to designate the land as a Wilderness Area.  The strictest of the BLM’s land designations, a WA would limit human activity on the property – such as the use of motorized vehicles.  That might be a little too much restriction for some local users.

As Jeffress points out, there’s actually two WSA’s right next to each other, which opens up some options.  He  said it was possible to ask Congress to release one of the WSA’s from designation and designate the other a Wilderness Area.  Under that proposal there would be a little something for everyone.

Jeffress notes when the restrictions for WSA’s and WA’s were first enacted, there was some grumbling from land-users.  “A little too much Big Brother,” he said.  Over the years, however, people have gotten used to the restrictions and have come to appreciate them due, in part, to what has happened on land without designations, which has been spoiled in some cases by over-use or thoughtless users.  Jeffress noted, “We might all come together and decide to do nothing.  We might decide things are okay just the way they are.”

What Jeffress would like to see is a diverse group of users in on the action:  hunters, miners, OHV enthusiasts, hikers, photographers, mountain bike riders, etc.

In a letter to interested parties Jeffress writes, “This approach is an entirely new concept to evaluate WSA’s in Nevada or the west for that matter.  Rather than Congress taking direct action or the wilderness issue being a component of a “County Lands Use Bill”, it will involve a more grassroots effort to help formulate recommendations.  This means you.”

First meeting date: Saturday, January 30th at the West Hall of the Winnemucca Convention Center in Winnemucca. The session will run from10:00 a.m - 12:30 p.m. (break for lunch 12:30 -1:30), meet again from 1:30 to 3:00p.m.