BLM finalizes guidance for certain off-highway vehicle events in Nevada
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RENO —The BLM has finalized guidance for considering future permits for Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) commercial, competitive, and organized group uses on 8,852 miles of public roads and trails across the Caliente, Pahrump, Tonopah, Sierra Front, and Stillwater field offices in Nevada. Permits will take into consideration field office land use plans, wildlife protections, environmental conditions, and other uses in the proposed area.
“BLM Nevada has worked hard to improve our application review process for OHV special recreation permits through this EA,” Alan Shepherd, Deputy State Director of Resources, Lands, and Planning. “This is a great step forward to more streamlined permitting, reducing costs to applicants, and ensuring public lands in Nevada continue to be appropriately managed for multiple use.”
This decision does not directly approve any future permitted events. Event organizers interested in permitting an event on these routes should coordinate with their local field office representative.
BLM’s decision—contained in a Final Programmatic Environmental Assessment, Decision Record, and Finding of No Significant Impact—approves a standardized set of stipulations that may be attached wholly or in part as requirements for permits. These stipulations will help to address potential impacts to cultural resources, fish and wildlife, public access and safety, hazardous waste management, and other uses.
As part of the review for the project, BLM consulted with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to develop a Biological Assessment analyzing effects on Endangered Species Act-listed and proposed species and their critical habitats. As a result of that consultation, the USFWS issued a Programmatic Biological Opinion for desert tortoise and desert tortoise critical habitat.
The EA, DR/FONSI, consultation documents, and other data and reports are available online at the project’s National NEPA Register webpage. Hardcopies of this material can be made available, upon request, by calling the BLM Nevada State Office at 775-861-6500 or emailing BLM_NV_NVSO_web_mail@blm.gov.
The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land located primarily in 12 western states, including Alaska, on behalf of the American people. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. Our mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of America’s public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations.