LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — While our record-breaking hot summer is behind us, as we approach the end of 2024, scorching temperatures will be back next year, fueling future fire danger in Nevada.
Federal, state, and local land management and fire agencies are staying ahead, renewing a five-year joint services agreement to help Nevada better prevent and respond to fires and other natural disasters.
Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo was joined by officials from the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Nevada Division of Forestry and local fire agencies at BLM’s Red Rock Fire Station Friday morning to sign what’s known as a “Shared Stewardship Agreement,” which allows better resource sharing between federal, state and local land management organizations when fighting and preventing wildfires.
Shared Stewardship Agreement by stephanieaceves51
Fires are getting bigger and more severe and happening more frequently in Nevada and throughout the West, largely due to record heat drying out fire fuels–like invasive grass species—across the state. That’s why officials say working together is more important than ever.
“Because quite often whenever we respond to a crisis, just about every agency responding doesn’t have enough resources to accomplish the task,” Lombardo said. “With the Shared Stewardship [Agreement], that fixes that.”
The state says wildfires are one of the biggest threats to our landscape in the coming years. This was seen in 2024 with major fires in Northern Nevada, like the nearly 6,000-acreDavis Fire near Reno in September, and several fires in Southern Nevada in the Spring Mountains west of Las Vegas this fire season.
READ MORE: Crews from across the state, including Clark County, help respond to Davis Fire
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The Shared Stewardship Agreement isn’t just for fighting wildfires that pop up but also for helping prevent them through active land management and forestry practices.
“To put it back to a condition that makes it more fire resilient,” Jon Raby, Nevada State Director for the BLM, said in a Friday interview. “We’re always going to have fire on the landscape, but we don’t want it to be of a nature that is ultra damaging to property, homes and communities.”
Governor Lombardo and other officials also cite the first version of the Shared Stewardship Agreement as a key factor in how the state responded to catastrophic flooding at Mt. Charleston last August caused by remnants of Tropical Storm Hillary.
This is the second time a Shared Stewardship Agreement has been signed in Nevada–the first was signed by then-Governor Steve Sisolak in 2019. The current version will take effect in 2025 and run through 2030.
The first version created 13 “Shared Stewardship Priority Landscapes,” which are focus areas for these agencies to direct most of their land management work.
Two are located in Clark County: Spring Mountains-Pahrump south and west of Las Vegas, and the Virgin-Muddy northeast of Las Vegas along the I-15 corridor on the way to Mesquite.
So, what does that mean for you?
That means if you decide to go for a hike at Red Rock Canyon, Mt. Charleston, or Valley of Fire State Park (outside of the dates it’s closed for maintenance, December 2-15), you might see more crews from various agencies working together to maintain the land in the off-season, reduce fuels, and prepare for future fire seasons.
Learn more about Nevada’s Shared Stewardship Agreement by clicking here.
A recent Review-Journal letter to the editor mischaracterized Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto’s Southern Nevada Economic Development and Conservation Act, also known as the Clark County Lands bill. As the former executive director of the Nevada Conservation League, I wholeheartedly support this legislation, so I wanted to set the record straight.
Sen. Cortez Masto has been working on this bill for years in partnership with state and local governments, conservation groups like the NCL and local area tribes. It’s true that the Clark County lands bill would open 25,000 acres to help Las Vegas grow responsibly, while setting aside 2 million acres for conservation. It would also help create more affordable housing throughout the valley while ensuring our treasured public spaces can be preserved for generations to come.
What is not correct is that the money from these land sales would go to the federal government’s coffers. In fact, the opposite is true.
The 1998 Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act is a landmark bill that identified specific public land for future sale and created a special account ensuring all land sale revenues would come back to Nevada. In accordance with that law 5 percent of revenue from land transfers goes to the state of Nevada for general education purposes, 10 percent goes to the Southern Nevada Water Authority for needed water infrastructure and 85 percent supports conservation and environmental mitigation projects in Southern Nevada. This legislation has provided billions to Clark County and will continue to benefit generations of Southern Nevadans. Sen. Cortez Masto’s lands bill builds upon the act’s success.
So here’s the good news: All of the money generated from land made available for sale under Sen. Cortez Masto’s bill would be sent to the special account created by the 1998 law. Rather than going to an unaccountable federal government, the proceeds would continue to help kids in Vegas get a better education, bolster outdoor recreation and modernize Southern Nevada’s infrastructure.
I know how important it is that money generated from the sale of public land in Nevada stay in the hands of Nevadans, and so does the senator. That’s why she opposed a Republican effort last year to sell off 200,000 acres of land in Clark County and other areas of the country that would have sent those dollars directly to Washington.
Public land management in Nevada should benefit Nevadans. We should protect sacred cultural sites and beloved recreation spaces, responsibly transfer land for affordable housing when needed and ensure our state has the resources it needs to grow sustainably. I will continue working with Sen. Cortez Masto to advocate for legislation, such as the Clark County lands bill, that puts the needs of Nevadans first.
Paul Selberg writes from Las Vegas.
click to expand photos
Las Vegas High’s baseball team claimed a 3-2 home win over Coronado on Friday.
Las Vegas (9-13-1) next hosts Rancho at 10 a.m. Saturday. Coronado (13-14) hosts Chaparral at 3:30 p.m. Monday.
Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.
LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — Nevada’s jobless rate is holding steady, but the state is still adding jobs.
A new report from DETR shows February’s unemployment rate unchanged at 5.3 percent, with the labor force growing by nearly 3,800 people.
MORE ON FOX5: Nevada unemployment rate rises to 5.3% in January
Nevada now has about 1.6 million nonfarm jobs, up 2.2 percent over the past year and 1,500 more jobs than in January.
“This month’s report shows a strengthening labor market,” said David Schmidt, Chief Economist. ”Compared to the report for January, the pace of job gains in the past year increased from 1.9% to 2.2%, building on what was already the fastest pace of job growth in the country. While the unemployment rate remained stable, the labor force participation rate rose to 63.7%, 1.7 percentage points higher than the national level.”
In Las Vegas, employment ticked up by 1,100 jobs in February, about 0.1 percent, and is up more than 25,000 jobs compared to last year.
Reno added 1,000 jobs on the month, while Carson City shed about 200 but is still slightly above where it was a year ago.
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