New rule keeps state beautiful

The new Public Lands Rule allows the Bureau of Land Management to give conservation the same consideration as other uses such as mining, grazing and fossil fuels.

I considered the vast recreational and scenic activities that our public lands offered when I relocated from Northern Virginia to Southern Nevada in 2017. Yes, there’s the glitter and attractions of Las Vegas, but the sheer beauty of nature in places such as Lake Mead, Red Rock Canyon, Mount Charleston and Valley of Fire took my breath away.

In 2001, I visited the Red Rock Canyon National Recreation Area just after a traumatic work-related 9/11 assignment at Ground Zero in New York. While approaching the visitor center, I noticed a memorial to the victims of 9/11, a simple healing gesture of empathy. Red Rock was just the therapeutic relief I needed for a world gone mad.

We live in a breathtaking paradise. Nevada is the exception, not the rule, when it comes to public lands. About 85% of the land here is federally protected, and the BLM manages two-thirds of it. That’s more than any state except for Alaska. The Public Lands Rule will allow the BLM to protect even more of Nevada’s natural beauty.