Does anyone know the source of this map or can someone vouch for its authenticity? Asking because I know Nevada well and the vast majority of the land identified would have nothing to do with affordable housing and would severely impact wildlife. Examples would be:
1) Nearly the entire dry playa lake bed of the Smoke Creek desert which is worthless for anything other than an alternative site for Burning Man. Not sure why that’s highlighted.
2) The upper elevations of Peavine Mountain and Mount Rose around Reno. Could build some really nice houses but nothing affordable and would pretty much eliminate what’s left of the mule deer population around Reno.
3) The extremely steep eastern slopes of the Ruby Mountains. Not sure what this could be used for other than mining or water rights and mining companies don’t usually buy federal lands.
What I don’t see highlighted are trapped suburban parcels of BLM around Reno, Fernley, etc that barely support feral horses and jack rabbits but would be perfect for industrial or affordable housing.
Edit from some online research: “The proposal would require the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service to identify and sell between 2.2 million and 3.3 million acres of public lands across 11 Western states to build housing.”
So, the maps being posted are likely meaningless at this point in time.
Also, Zinke from MT opposed the original bill that left the house which “only” included 500,000 acres. So the Senate republicans stripped MT out of the bill and increased the acreage to between 2.2 and 3.3 million. Zinke said he’d oppose any sale of public lands but that’s likely meaningless unless he can get one or both of his state’s Republican senators to oppose it and with MT not included that would seem unlikely.
Fortunately NV’s two democratic senators (never thought I’d write that) are on record stating they oppose the sale while our Republican congressman was one of the key member of the House supporting the original 500,000 acres.
I assume all democrat and independent senators are against it so we need at least three more republican senators to stand up against this proposal. It’s important to write your senators, and especially Republican senators since that party holds the cards. I’m going to research if I can write a few out of state senators expressing my concerns. If so I’ll research and find out which Republican senators may come out against the proposal.