City council members gave Mayor Susan Holecheck the green light to write a draft letter to Congressman Jon Porter's office throwing support behind his Mesquite Lands Act bill, but wanted "certain caveats" included.

Porter, who represents Mesquite in Congress, has worked for several years on a lands act bill that would allow the city to take down and develop 4,900 acres of public land on Mormon Mesa.

A conservation element also is included in the bill, but hasn't progressed beyond preliminary discussions. Porter's office is considering proposals for the conservation component - a way of mitigating development through a conservation plan.

Friends of Gold Butte and the Nevada Wilderness Coalition have submitted a proposal to Porter's office that would provide Natural Conservation Area protection to the Gold Butte Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC), but Porter's office has been careful to point out the proposal is under review only.

"They're (Porter's office) concerned that there has been no forward momentum from the council and mayor on the lands act," Holecheck told city officials during their retreat last Friday in Las Vegas. "I'm looking for consensus from council on what I should include in the draft letter to Congressman Porter. I think I'm hearing that you want to proceed but with definite caveats."

Land act amendments

City manager Tim Hacker said two amendments to the lands act are addressing the use of funds from city land sales to implement a habitat conservation plan and an "environmental component to offset development."

The land act would allow the city to square off boundaries and run utilities for future development on the mesa.

"A hole was discovered between the future airport site and the contiguity parcel," Hacker said. "One hundred eighty acres of land need to be included in the amendment - a land transfer from the BLM to the city.

"The environmental component will not go away. When I meet with people it always comes back to how the BLM has not managed the land. They don't want to see the doors shut. Not everyone golfs or gambles. People like to recreate outdoors. We've been talking to Partners In Conservation (PIC). We've told them this is going to happen. It's not just limited to proposals from Friends of Gold Butte and the Nevada Wilderness Coalition. Why not be proactive?"

"We can take the lead to work with the public on a good management plan," Holecheck said. "Let us help people reach their goal."

"We can look at how to protect the current user but have enhanced protections," Hacker said. "People want no road closures. They want accessibility for hunters and off-roaders. They don't want the continued degradation of the land, but they're fearful of what the BLM will do.

"We can change the language in the management plan. But you don't want to get radical and create a document foreign to Congress. Porter's and (Congressman Dean) Heller's offices are listening. There shouldn't be a problem getting these protections written in and keeping land accessible to recreation."

"The Congressional delegation wants a letter from us putting it on the line," Holecheck said. "We're trying to look at the future of Mesquite. On top of us is Lincoln County; on the other side is the ACEC. We're stuck growing one way. If we annex the (public) land we have to have an environmental component. We can't wait. We want to make you comfortable with this. We need some kind of consensus. It's fish or cut bait time."

"I see an analogy between this and the airport," said council member Bill Wells. "You think you get the word out, but people think all the roads will close. We need to get this done."

Accessibility concerns

Council member Bubba Smith agreed but spoke about accessibility concerns.

"We need this," he said. "We need this component, too. I enjoy the area out there. I hate to see what's going on out there. They're tearing up an area I treasured growing up. There's a perception that with Friends of Gold Butte we'll never be able to get in there. I'm glad we have a wilderness area. I want to be able to enjoy a natural area without people rolling through on four-wheelers.

"There's a stigma that if Friends (of Gold Butte) are in on it (the conservation component) it's over. That's not what their goals are."

"When you say the word ‘wilderness' people think of Grand Staircase," said council member David Bennett. "That involved hundreds of thousands of acres that people fished at, drove through and ran cattle. Then it was gone. No mechanized vehicle can go through there.

"Most people want to have access to four-wheel roads and jeep roads and they don't have any objection to protection of petroglyphs."

"We're jumping the gun," said Kurt Sawyer, the city's chief building official who also serves on PIC. "The problem is there's no public input here. It's very hard for council to make a decision in this room here without hearing from the public. PIC wants a public process."

"Elected officials are elected to represent, but we can condition that there is an open public process," Hacker said.

"There are no camping spots in northeast Clark County," Sawyer said. "It would help to have an organized area where people can camp."

"We're talking about the future growth of Mesquite; you're talking about protection of land," Holecheck said. "If Congress backs off because the city is not interested, that's all going to happen (road closures, sealing off access) because the city is not in the fray. Let's say the city backs off the 4,900 acres. Just because we're not there any more, it could be worse. Are you prepared to have the letter pushing for the 4,900 acres? You can put in all the things that you want to say."

"One problem is that this has been going on for years and years," said Ron Dodd, municipal court judge and Mesquite Justice of the Peace who said he was speaking as a citizen. "The BLM doesn't want to manage public lands. They just want to close them piece-meal. Put into the bill ‘you're not closing anything else.'

"The whole Gold Butte area - where does it lead to? You can't go to the lake if it's an NCA (Natural Conservation Area). You can't go to Lone Palm because it's an NCA. You need to have access to the back side of the lake."

Officials seek input

Bennett agreed, saying people resent how BLM has managed public land.

"Ron hit on it," he said. "Over the last 15 years, BLM has been closing land piece-meal. They put up signs and close land. People are very sensitive to a program like that. I'm not opposed to this (conservation element) plan. I want dollars to preserve and protect. What I worry about is that we'll do our best, sit at the table and plan, then this will go to Congress and they'll change the language. BLM will misinterpret. It will look like we sold access to 200,000 acres for 4,900 acres. It makes us the bad guys."

"We have a great rapport with the (Congressional) delegation," Hacker said. "Heller said we can make the language work for us. We have the opportunity to drive it."

"What happens when it goes back to Washington and they change the language?" Dodd asked. "What are our alternatives?"

"We've got to do everything in our power to make things work," Holecheck said. "If worse comes to worse, the parties won't work it out. It's not worth the 4,900 acres if the BLM doesn't have a decent management plan."

"We've done these land takedowns before," said city engineer Allen Bell. "We have a pretty good firm out there (the Furman Group). We can give them input. We still have the ability to do that. I think we have a greater ability to do that now."

"The BLM would rather close everything down and not have to work and make everything positive," Bennett said. "I'm not opposed to this concept (a land management plan)."

"I've spent hundreds of hours out there," said council member Karl Gustaveson. "There's tremendous deterioration. It deserves protection. But I have the same concerns as Ron has. It's much easier for the BLM to close it off."

"I had the opportunity to attend a Friends of gold Butte meeting and a meeting in Bunkerville," said council member Randy Ence. "Everything we're trying to do we can bring together for the betterment of everyone. If we do nothing, we could lose it anyway."