Elko County faces fine in dispute over endangered fish

County officials were pleased with the relatively minor fine recommended Thursday by the Nevada Environmental Commission.

But they said the commission's failure to rescind an earlier stop-work order will prevent the county from rebuilding the entire 1.5 mile road to a popular trailhead.

Instead, for this year, the county only will apply for a permit to clean up the first 900 feet of road already roughly graded to Snowslide Trailhead before the work was stopped in July, County Commissioner Royce Hackworth said.

The Nevada Division of Environmental Protection's Bureau of Water Pollution Control ordered Elko County to cease its work after the U.S. Forest Service complained reconstruction of the road washed out in a flood would send sediments into the river and jeopardize survival of the bull trout.

The Division of Environmental Protection issued the county a citation, with a possible fine to follow, for failing to secure the proper permits before initiating the work.

In the months since the dispute began, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service added the Jarbidge River bull trout to the list of federally protected species, largely in response to the county's actions.

At an appeal hearing Thursday, Elko County Road Supervisor Otis Tipton said the county workers crossed the river only once in reconstructing 900 feet of the road. He said residents who volunteered to help reported finding only two trout stranded in the rechanneled stream.

"The only time the water was discolored was when we breached the dike - probably for an hour and a half, two hours," Tipton said.

"Everybody was surprised at how fast it cleared," he said.

Assemblyman John Carpenter said if the road isn't finished, normal rainfall would wash it out again and cause much more siltation than completing the work.

If the road remains closed, the wilderness area boundary will be moved toward town, County Manager George Boucher told state commissioners.

Boucher said the county may not rebuild the final 300 yards to Snowslide Trailhead even if it is allowed to resume work, due to a large rock slide at Snowslide Gulch. There is also a sizable slide at Gorge Gulch.

"To clean up the Snowslide mess would be expensive," Boucher said. If the county rebuilt the road to that point, he added, people would still have access to other campsites and could drive close to the trailhead.

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