LAS VEGAS (AP) - Ten years after they began the effort, federal land managers are resuming work on their first major revision of their overall management plan for Southern Nevada in two decades.
The Bureau of Land Management restarted the planning process last fall, more than a year after State Director John Ruhs called a temporary halt to the work, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported .
The agency now is looking for public input on what the revised Southern Nevada District Resource Management Plan should include.
The bureau will hold six public meetings throughout the southern part of the state starting Tuesday to collect input through Feb. 2 as part of a renewed push to finish the revision by 2021.
“We are glad that it’s finally getting back underway,” said Nye County Commission Chairman Dan Schinhofen. “We’re also glad they took a hiatus, because there were a lot of issues that needed to be addressed.”
The resource management plan serves as a sort of blueprint that guides specific land-use decisions for 3.1 million acres of federal land in Clark County and the southern tip of Nye County.
Since the plan’s last major update 20 years ago, the region’s population has grown by almost 1 million people.
“It’s in need of a refresh, that’s for sure,” said Gayle Marrs-Smith, field manager for the Bureau of Land Management in Southern Nevada.
The bureau released a first draft of the revised plan in October 2014. Nye County declared the plan “repugnant” in an official resolution, narrowly passed by county commissioners in early 2015, that said “’no’ to the Bureau of Land Management.”
Marrs-Smith said the Bureau of Land Management is not starting over from scratch but, rather expanding on its first draft to incorporate some of the issues raised by the public three years ago.
“We want to make our range of alternatives cover everything from soup to nuts,” she said.
The revisions are focused on five specific topics: renewable energy development zones, Areas of Critical Environmental Concern, lands with wilderness characteristics, land suitable for disposal and development and socioeconomic needs in Southern Nevada.
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Information from: Las Vegas Review-Journal, http://www.lvrj.com
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