Federal funding generated from the sale of public land in Nevada will be used to finance 36 projects aimed at enhancing recreation and restoration projects across Nevada and the California side of the Lake Tahoe Basin.
The Department of the Interior announced Tuesday that $375 million, sourced from land sales under the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act (SNPLMA), will be split between several projects to enhance recreation opportunities, fund capital improvements, conserve wildlife habitat, and reduce the threat of wildfire across the state.
Since its inception in 1998, SNPLMA – implemented by the Bureau of Land Management – has generated over $3.5 billion from the auction of about 18,000 acres of public land in the Las Vegas Valley.
Those sales have fueled 20 rounds of funding for 179 projects in Nevada, the Lake Tahoe Basin, and areas within Lake Mead National Recreation Area in Arizona. The law initially authorized the sale of nearly 68,000 acres in Clark County, roughly 23,000 of which have been sold over SNPLMA’s 26-year history.
“This program supports jobs and local economies, improves recreation in rural and underserved areas, and aligns with our commitment to conserve at least 30% of U.S. lands and waters by 2030 under the America the Beautiful initiative,” said Acting Deputy Secretary Laura Daniel-Davis.
A majority of the funding, $235 million, was earmarked to support the development of parks, trails, and conservation areas across Nevada.
A portion of that $235 million will be used to acquire about 19 acres of private land on the east slope of the Sierra Nevada Carson Range within the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest in Area. The purchase is expected to help protect sensitive species, such as California spotted owl, flammulated owl, and northern goshawk, while expanding recreation access to public lands.
Funding from Clark County land sales will also be used to fund a desert tortoise population density survey at the Boulder City Conservation Easement site that will examine if the site can support more desert tortoise relocations.
Under the Clark County Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan tortoises removed from sprawling construction sites are relocated to approved sites, including the Boulder City Conservation Easement site, which received a transfer of 51 juvenile desert tortoises last year.
About $23 million in funding will also be used to finance five conservation initiatives, including promoting native plants for restoration and water conservation in Las Vegas, managing illegal roads at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, developing water guzzlers for Bighorn Sheep at the Desert National Wildlife Refuge, and native trout conservation.
Federal land managers approved $25 million in funding for five projects related to hazardous fuel reduction and wildfire prevention in the Lake Tahoe Basin, Carson City, and the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area.
The Eastern Nevada Landscape Restoration Project in White Pine and Lincoln Counties also received nearly $5 million in funding, which provides funds to promote healthy ecosystems within the Great Basin with an emphasis on treating shrub-steppe, pinyon-juniper and riparian ecosystems.