At the end of June, the BLM announced that it is extending its withdrawal of public lands in five Nevada counties, including Mineral. This four-year extension means that it will keep the existing uses and restrictions, meaning that anything currently going on within the lands may continue to happen.

In addition to the new four-year extension, more than 68,800 acres of federal land in Churchill County are unable for leasing under mineral leasing laws, meaning that no new claims can be registered within the territory.

“The intent is to maintain the status of the land how it is currently being used. Grazing and recreational use can still be continued, but for instance if any new power lines or roads need to be installed then the [BLM] field manager will have to have those conversations with the Navy,” says BLM Project Manager Colleen Dingman.

Dingman explains that the original Public Land Order 7873 enacted in 2018 was a 4-year agreement to maintain the lands. The US Department of the Navy’s Fallon Range Training Complex Modernization plan outlines its goal of building a training complex that is currently on BLM lands. This Modernization plan includes:

  • Renewing the Navy’s current public land withdrawal
  • Expanding its range of lands through the addition of the public lands withdrawal and acquiring nonfederal lands
  • Expanding airspace and modifications
  • Upgrading range infrastructure

The Navy prepared an Environmental Impact Statement in early 2020 and held a public meeting in Fallon outlining the need for a larger aviation training range.

“The Fallon Ranges must be able to support how the Navy fights today, so personnel are prepared for the conflicts of tomorrow,” the EIS presentation states, which was prepared for the 2020 public meeting by Naval Air Station Fallon Commanding Officer/ Captain Evan Morrison.

“The BLM’s withdrawal overlaps with what was originally proposed in Fallon’s [FRTC] document,” Dingman adds.

However, Dingman says that the Navy wasn’t able to move on the proposed legislation in time, so the BLM was asked to extend the withdrawal of lands for another four years. Anything over 5,000 acres of lands must go through legislation, and the Navy asked for more than 700,000 acres to expand their training complex. Most of the land is in Churchill County, with some impact on uninhabited desert in Mineral County.

“Once the legislation goes through, the lands are withdrawn for whatever amount of time that Congress sets,” she explains.

The total land mass that the BLM will continue to maintain includes 684,838.84 acres within the counties of Churchill, Nye, Pershing, Lyon, and Mineral.

To learn more about the Fallon Range Training Complex Modernization project, visit https://frtcmodernization.com/.