Nevada Dems unveil land deal to satisfy military, greens

Nevada Dems unveil land deal to satisfy military, greens

Nevada House Democrats unveiled legislation Tuesday to grant the Air Force a long-sought expansion of its training facility in the Nevada desert while also safeguarding against future growth in the region.

Reps. Steven Horsford, Susie Lee and Dina Titus introduced the "Promoting National Security and Preserving Access to Public Land in Southern Nevada Act of 2023."

The legislation — which Democratic Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen introduced last month as S. 3134 — would permit the Air Force to build out 15 “new electronic tracking and communications sites” for the Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR).

In exchange for those sites, which could take up a little more than half an acre each, Congress would designate 736,000 acres within the Desert National Wildlife Refuge as a permanent wilderness, prohibiting new roads and other developments.

“Nevada provides a crucial training ground to prepare our Air Force for the future,” Horsford said in a statement. “As we update the Nevada Test and Training Range to prepare our servicemembers for challenges they may face in combat, we are also working to preserve the pristine wilderness that many Nevadans enjoy today.”

The NTTR sits on nearly 2.9 million acres north of Las Vegas, and the majority of those tracts is managed by either the Bureau of Land Management or the Fish and Wildlife Service.

That includes significant overlap with the Desert National Wildlife Refuge, a sprawling 1.6-million-acre site that is home to the desert bighorn sheep.

The Air Force has long sought to expand onto additional lands in the area, arguing that the military branch needs more room for modern warfare training.

In the fiscal 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, lawmakers directed the Air Force, Nevada’s congressional delegation and state and tribal leaders to pursue a "mutually-agreed upon expansion.”

“I have been working with stakeholders on this proposal to strike a balance that meets the national security needs of the U.S. Air Force while at the same time protecting Nevada’s public lands and wildlife,” Rosen said in a statement in late October. “And I will continue working to see that we include these provisions in this year’s annual defense bill.”

Shaaron Netherton, executive director of Friends of Nevada Wilderness, praised the legislation as a “win-win solution” for maintaining access to the public within the refuge, as well as habitat to for the bighorn sheep, while meeting the Air Force’s needs.

Scott Lake, Nevada staff attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, likewise told E&E News that the proposal's wilderness designation will "provide much-needed permanent protection for native wildlife, migratory birds, indigenous sacred sites and recreational opportunities."

"The designation of these lands as wilderness is long overdue," Lake added.