Chat with Chic, July 3, 1985

Chat with Chic July 3, 1985 from Washington By U.S. Senator Chic Hecht I've just completed an 1800 mile tour of our state, looking at the heart of Nevada. I've seen rugged, beautiful and impressive country; truly a remarkable representation of the Great Basin. Certainly to me, the national forests in Nevada have to be among America's best kept secrets. The land we flew over seemed untouched by civilization. This indicates to me that Nevadans and various federal and state administrative agencies, through the multiple use concept, have done a very creditable management job down through the years. The land we inspected for possible wilderness areas remains pristine, unspoiled. I saw no evidence of land abuse. My question then, at this point is, why should we now change this policy of multiple use? As they say, if something ain't broke, why fix it? For one thing, the future of Nevada's entire rural economy is dependent on the continued multiple use of our federal lands. And it was in rural areas particularly where we looked at prospective new wilderness sites. With public lands exempted from local property taxation, revenues for local schools, roads and public services must come from the multiple use development of our federal lands. Senator Laxalt and I, along with Congressman Vucanovich, have, as required by law, introduced a bill setting aside four areas in Nevada as wilderness sites. Our bill, a conservative one, has been endorsed by the Nevada State Legislature, by most counties of the state, by land-use committees and others. It, apparently, is a bill Nevadans like. Our bill, too, also recognizes the fact that this is only the first of a series of wilderness proposals to be decided for Nevada. Chat with Chic, page 2 The Bureau of Land Management now is conducting wilderness studies on over 4,000,000 acres of our state; the Fish and Wildlife Service already has recommended over a million acres and the National Park Service is proposing several hundred thousand acres of wilderness at Lake Mead and Death Valley. By the time this is all over, Nevada will be making a substantial contribution to the national wilderness system. We were told during our tour that a wilderness bill must have the total support of a state's congressional delegation if it is to pass the congress. Three of the four of us in the Nevada delegation have agreed on a bill we think right for Nevada. I hope total agreement can be reached soon so that in excess of 3,000,000 acres of land now being administered as wilder-ness can be released. The time has now come to solve this particular issue and move on to new challenges. We have put aside this issue for too long. It should be laid to rest.