LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Water concerns are causing Las Vegas residents to question the prospective sale of 3.3 million acres of federally owned land in Nevada.
On Wednesday, the Sierra Club Toiyabe Chapter presented an updated version of a leaked map allegedly attached to an amendment for the Senate reconciliation funding bill. The conversation with neighbors shifted into a look at the impact of sale of land near a newly proposed airport.
“Southern Nevada could choose to keep sprawling, which risks our water resources,” Vinny Spotleson, chair for the Sierra Club Toiyabe Chapter, said. “And we are saying, no, we want to have our city grow more dense, more compact, more walkable with transit so we don’t get more traffic out of it. That’s what’s going to be best for our water and for our valley’s future.”
Much of the federal land is not near Nevada’s hiking trails or camp sites, according to the updated leaked map. Spotleson said the lack of traditional use for the land doesn’t mean it’s not valuable left alone.
“One of the misnomers is this idea that the government owns this land and that it’s sitting out there, not being used,” he said. “Every acre of public land is spoken for in the country.”
Arlene Gawne, a longtime Summerlin resident, reacted to the map’s inclusion of the Blue Diamond Hills near her home.
“If they build along there, all that magic is gone,” she said. “All of a sudden there isn’t a wilderness close to a major metropolitan area and people need that. They need to go out there and refresh themselves and be away from the sprawl.”
