Wilderness Report - April 6, 2010 - Marge Sill, Chair, Toiyabe Chapter
Wilderness Committee

Yuki and I will be attending the Western Wilderness Conference in
Berkeley April 8-11 so will not be able to attend the Chapter Ex Com
meeting. You can expect a report on the conference and what we have
learned that will help us get new wilderness and protect what we have
now.

Legislation establishing a Gold Butte National Conservation Area with
wilderness has not yet been introduced by Representative Dina Titus, but
she has indicated that a bill will be introduced this spring. Letters of
support from Southern Nevada residents should be sent to local press and
to area decision makers. This is a high priority for the Nevada
Wilderness Coalition, including the Sierra Club. Myke Bybee, Sierra Club
staff member from Washington DC, visited the area in February and will be
working with us on the legislation.

Efforts to establish a national monument legislatively are continuing in
the upper Las Vegas Wash-Tule Springs area to preserve what is considered
by paleontologists the most significant find of late Pleistocene fossils
in the Mojave Desert. The Sierra Club is working closely with others
groups to garner support for this legislation.

Two Bureau of Land Management wilderness study areas in Northern Nevada
are now receiving close attention: Burbank Canyon in Douglas County and
Blue Lakes-Alder Creek in the Pine Forest Range. Both of these areas
would be great additions to Nevada wilderness if they receive local
support.

Since the Sheldon Management plan and Draft Environmental Impact
Statement has not yet been released, wilderness recommendations for the
Sheldon are still on hold. The Sheldon rendezvous will take place June
25-27, and all Sierra Club members are invited to participate.

New wilderness in Southern Inyo County, an important part of the Toiyabe
Chapter, has been proposed in the California Desert Protection Act of
2010 introduced by Senator Diane Feinstein. This would include areas in
Death Valley National Park.

Michael Brune, the new Executive Director of the Sierra Club, is
enthusiastic about wilderness and its importance in the effort to
preserve and protect resilient habitats, according to communication I
have received from him.