Nevada: Proposed Closures to Recreational Shooting in Las Vegas-Pahrump Area of Nevada

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released a draft Resource Management Plan (RMP) to guide future management of 3.1 million acres of public land by the Las Vegas and Pahrump Field Offices in southern Nevada.  The RMP will affect where recreational shooting will be allowed in the planning area.

The RMP contains four alternative management approaches.  Alternative 1 is the no-action alternative meaning that current management would continue.  Areas of BLM land in Clark and Nye Counties that have been closed to recreational shooting will stay closed.  Alternative 2 retains the existing shooting closures and proposes to close additional public lands as follows:

• one-quarter mile of the sand dune within the Big Dune Special Recreation Management Area
• Logandale North Recreation Management Zone
• Mesquite Community gravel pit
• existing closure boundary would be extended down to the south edge of Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area.

Alternative 3 would retain the existing closures and propose Logandale North RMZ and the Mesquite Community gravel pit for closure.  Alternative 4 would allow shooting throughout the planning area, provided it is in accordance with existing BLM regulations and policies, although it is not clear how existing regulations and policies would affect shooting.

The draft RMP can be viewed on line at http://tinyurl.com/qzvaht7.  The comment period has been extended to March 7.

Click here to read the comments submitted by the NRA in partnership with several other national organizations.  None of the alternatives are acceptable for recreational shooting, including Alternative 1 because the NRA opposed closures in the past that are now part of current management.

If you recreate on lands that fall within this draft RMP, you are encouraged to review the document to see how the management alternatives could affect your activities, particularly the additional closures of public land to recreational shooting.  Please take time to review the plan and take advantage of the opportunity to submit comments to the BLM.

Comments can be emailed to [email protected].  For information regarding the draft RMP, you may contact the BLM at 702-515-5026.