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Adds specific newly designated wilderness areas to the National Wilderness Preservation System and treats references in the Wilderness Act to the effective date as references to the date of enactment of this Act (and references to Secretary of Agriculture as references to the Secretary).
Removes specified Federal lands (listed wilderness study areas administered by the Secretary in the County) from the applicability of section 603(c) of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 and directs that those lands be managed under land use plans and existing cooperative conservation agreements instead.
Conveys specific federal lands in Nevada to state and local public entities for public uses, places multiple tribal fee parcels into trust for tribal reservations, designates new wilderness areas and five National Conservation Areas, adjusts grazing permits in named allotments, and withdraws listed federal tracts from mining and certain leasing while preserving existing rights. Recipients must pay transfer-related costs; the Secretary must complete surveys, maps, and legal descriptions and prepare management plans and inventories within set timelines.
‘Conservation Area’ means a National Conservation Area established by section 501 of this Act.
‘County’ means Washoe County, Nevada.
‘Indian Tribe’ has the meaning given in section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304).
‘Secretary’ means the Secretary of the Interior; and, with respect to a unit of the National Wildlife Refuge System, the Secretary of the Interior acting through the Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.
‘Secretary concerned’ means the Secretary for land under the jurisdiction of the Secretary, and the Secretary of Agriculture for National Forest System land.
Primary impacts are local and regional in Nevada. Tribal governments gain land placed into trust, expanding reservations and control over those parcels (with most transfers restricted from commercial gaming). State and local governments receive parcels for public uses but must pay survey, administrative, and sometimes appraisal/environmental costs — a potential short-term budget impact for counties, school districts, or other local entities. Federal land managers (BLM, Forest Service, and Fish and Wildlife Service) will need to complete surveys, publish legal descriptions, prepare maps, perform inventories, and write management plans, increasing administrative workload. Ranchers and livestock permittees in the Mosquito Valley and Horse Lake allotments may lose grazing acres or see authorized stocking levels reduced; donated permits terminate grazing on those lands. Conservation and recreation stakeholders benefit from new wilderness and conservation protections that limit new development, mining, and certain water projects while preserving hunting/fishing and treaty-based traditional uses. Mining claimants and potential developers face constrained access to withdrawn lands; utilities retain existing corridors but new utility authorizations remain subject to NEPA and applicable law. Overall environmental protection and public-recreation access are likely to increase, while parties facing reduced extractive or grazing uses incur economic or operational impacts and recipients of conveyed land bear transaction costs.
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Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
Introduced February 6, 2025 by Jacklyn Sheryl Rosen · Last progress February 6, 2025
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests, and Mining. Hearings held.
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
Introduced in Senate