Secretary of the Interior issues Public Land Order for lands in Nevada
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CARSON CITY, Nevada – The Secretary of the Interior has issued a Public Land Order withdrawing 694,838.84 acres of public lands from all forms of appropriation under the public land laws, including location and entry under the United States mining laws, and leasing under the mineral, and geothermal leasing laws, subject to valid existing rights, for up to four years for land management evaluation purpose in Churchill, Lyon, Mineral, Nye, and Pershing Counties, Nevada. In addition, 68,809.44 acres of Federal land in the Dixie Valley area (Churchill County, Nevada) are withdrawn from the mineral leasing laws.
This withdrawal keeps the lands closed to these uses in order to maintain the current environmental baseline relative to mineral exploration and development for land management evaluation, subject to valid existing rights, to allow the Department of the Navy (DON) time to complete its environmental evaluations under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The DON’s environmental evaluations and NEPA analysis are for a potential legislative withdrawal of 772,370.75 acres of land at Naval Air Station Fallon that the DON intends to propose to Congress to withdraw and reserve for military use.
The Federal Register Notice is available at: https://go.usa.gov/xPqsE. For further information, contact Colleen Dingman, Project Manager, at (775) 885-6168 or email at cjdingman@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.