172 



$401 an acre to $6,000 an acre for comparable land, of undeveloped 

 rangeland of that kind. 



In regard to Senate Bill 59, we have some very short comments 

 £is well. 



The Nevada Outdoor Recreation Association, at the request of 

 Scot Cameron, of your office, Senator Hecht, produced a compre- 

 hensive report of our views and recommendations concerning 

 Senate Bill 59. I request that the report be made a part of our testi- 

 mony by reference, and I have a copy of that right here, Mr. Chair- 

 man. 



Senator Hecht. Without objection. 



Mr. Watson. Regretfully, NORA must go on record as opposing 

 Senate Bill 59 as it now stands. However, we feel that there are 

 conditions under which we could support it. 



In order to have that support, significant changes must be made 

 regarding permanent protection for wilderness and areas of critical 

 environmental concern that have so far been identified and recom- 

 mended by the BLM and proposed by conservationists. 



Specifically, three BLM wilderness study areas, as recommended 

 by the BLM as suitable in Clark County, should have permanent 

 wilderness protection as a part of this legislation. They should 

 become part of the National Wilderness Preservation System. 



Further, four areas with a measure of BLM protected designa- 

 tions in the Spring Mountains at the present time, and four addi- 

 tional areas not now enjoying enhanced BLM protection must re- 

 ceive permanent area of critical environmental concern, or what is 

 known as ACEC, protection inside the legislation, or mandated by 

 Congress as part of the legislation. Otherwise, we cannot support it. 

 It is simply BLM-bashing. 



As you know, our prime purpose — and we have been in business 

 for 29 years, we fathered the BLM Organic Act, we are concerned 

 about the implementation of that legislation — we believe the BLM 

 can be made a good manager of these lands. However, in some in- 

 stances we think maybe an adjustment has to be made for Forest 

 Service situations. I agree that it can be done. We can support this 

 legislation, provided these changes are made. 



Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 



[The prepared statement of Mr. Watson follows:] 



