Sponsors
The bill expands permanent wilderness protections and clarifies/streamlines disposal of certain federal checkerboard parcels—bringing local revenue and clearer titles—while increasing private transfers of public land that reduce access, limit some resource and infrastructure options, create timing and administrative risks, and restrict a small tribal parcel's gaming potential.
Rural residents, recreationists, and wildlife benefit from permanent protection of ~135,000 acres as wilderness, conserving habitat and scenic values and withdrawing those lands from most development.
Pershing County and the State receive new, recurring revenue streams (10% to County, 5% to State education) from land sales, increasing local tax bases and potential school funding.
Clarifying which BLM parcels are eligible and defining agency/congressional roles streamlines land management, reduces title uncertainty, and speeds decision-making for disposal or designation actions.
Residents, recreationists, and the public face reduced public land and recreational access as Federal checkerboard parcels are made eligible for sale or exchange and may be transferred to private ownership.
Local communities and state agencies lose future options for water infrastructure and other facility development because wilderness protections restrict new water projects and federal funding/permits in designated areas.
Economic opportunities from mining, leasing, and related jobs are reduced where lands are withdrawn from mineral leasing or closed to mining by wilderness designation or by withdrawal while offered for sale/exchange.
Based on analysis of 8 sections of legislative text.
Authorizes sales/exchanges of specific BLM parcels in Pershing County to consolidate ownership, designates seven wilderness additions, and places ~10 acres into trust for the Lovelock Paiute Tribe with a gaming ban.
Introduced March 27, 2025 by Jacklyn Sheryl Rosen · Last progress March 27, 2025
Directs the Secretary of the Interior to sell or exchange specified BLM lands in Pershing County, Nevada to consolidate checkerboard ownership and simplify management, using competitive sales and fair-market USPAP appraisals and offering exchanges to private owners within one year. Creates seven new wilderness additions in Pershing County (totaling tens of thousands of acres, shown on July 8, 2024 maps) and withdraws those areas from mineral leasing, mining claims, and other disposal. Transfers about 10 acres of BLM land into trust for the Lovelock Paiute Tribe, requires a boundary survey, and expressly prohibits Class II and III gaming on that land.