(Photo: J. Contois/USFWS — at Desert National Wildlife Refuge.)
Federal funding generated from the sale of public land in Nevada will be used to finance 36 projects aimed at enhancing recreation and restoration projects across Nevada and the California side of the Lake Tahoe Basin.
The Department of the Interior announced Tuesday that $375 million, sourced from land sales under the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act (SNPLMA), will be split between several projects to enhance recreation opportunities, fund capital improvements, conserve wildlife habitat, and reduce the threat of wildfire across the state.
Since its inception in 1998, SNPLMA – implemented by the Bureau of Land Management – has generated over $3.5 billion from the auction of about 18,000 acres of public land in the Las Vegas Valley.
Those sales have fueled 20 rounds of funding for 179 projects in Nevada, the Lake Tahoe Basin, and areas within Lake Mead National Recreation Area in Arizona. The law initially authorized the sale of nearly 68,000 acres in Clark County, roughly 23,000 of which have been sold over SNPLMA’s 26-year history.