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NORA Proposal - Senate Bill 59 5 



BLM should be released from wilderness consideration, except that 

 portion of the LaMadre WSA lying west of the recommended area, 

 which should continue to be managed under section 603 FLPMA until 

 Congress decides whether to include it and the contiguous 

 National Forest RARE-II area of the Mount Charleston Unit to the 

 north in the National Wilderness Preservation System. 



The recommended portions of LaMadre and Pine Creek WSA's lie 

 almost entirely within the very popular Red Rock Canyon 

 Recreation Area. This recreation area is administered jointly by 

 the State of Nevada and BLM. As a result it enjoys a somewhat 

 higher but still meager budget than BLM acreage generally. The 

 Red Rock Canyon Recreation Area should be enlarged slightly to 

 the west and somewhat to the north so that it will include all of 

 the recommended portions of the LaMadre and Pine Creek WSA's in 

 the same administrative unit. Such expansion will also give the 

 same administrative unit much better access to the perimeters of 

 Red Rock and so permit much better control of public access to 

 the recreation area. Congress should also formally recognize its 

 unique natural, scenic, and archeological values by declaring 

 that Red Rocks Canyon Recreation Area (including the aboriginal 

 rock art at its southern most end) be an area of critical 

 environmental concern. 



The proposed Brownstone Canyon ACEC is of critical concern 

 because of the unique and incredibly prolific archeological sites 

 all along the southwest front of the LaMadre Mountains. The sites 

 are said to be potentially some of the most important in the 

 Southwest and should receive protection as a Congressionally 

 mandated ACEC since the BLM has not seen fit to give them 

 protective status in the decade of its legal requirement and 

 mandate to do so since passage of FLPMA in 1976. Under the 

 proposed legislation the proposed ACEC would remain entirely 

 under the administration of the BLM. 



The existing Desert View Natural Area would potentially lose 

 the protection it currently has over those portions scheduled to 

 be transferred from the BLM to the Forest Service. This area, 

 while long and skinny, seeks to preserve the naturalness and 

 scenic values of a truly unusual occurrence - a relatively short 

 trip by automobile from the Sonoran desert at the foot of Mt. 

 Charleston to the shores of Hudson Bay at the top of the 

 mountain, and which traverses all six life zones to be found in 

 North America. Congressional designation of this area as an ACEC 

 is required for two reasons. First, the BLM designation as a 

 natural area does not necessarily make it an ACEC legally. 

 Second, the BLM designation need not be honored by the USFS, 

 which is free under the Bill to change land status and use to fit 

 its planning criteria. The USFS does not have the legal 

 prerogative to designate ACEC's nor give the some long term legal 

 protection that they bestow. This area definitely deserves the 

 protective status of a Congressional ACEC. 



