Managing more than 53 million acres of federal lands is not an easy task, but for the state of Nevada, it may be getting a little simpler. Recently, Nevada signed a 10-year agreement with the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service. The deal allows the three entities to more easily partner on forest, rangeland and watershed restoration projects.

Called a Good Neighbor Authority Master Agreement, the federal agencies have teamed up with the Nevada departments of Agriculture, Conservation, and Natural Resources and Wildlife. This agreement allows the Forest Service and BLM to easily transfer funds to state agencies to complete project planning, implementation, or monitoring on public lands or adjacent private lands. With the plan, the state agencies can use their staff or subcontract with third parties, including counties, to get work done. This provides more local capacity for restoration.

Projects eligible under the agreement are those that reduce wildfire risk, deal with invasive plants, protect water supplies and wildlife habitat, and meet other forest and public lands management objectives.

Nora Rasure, Forest Service intermountain regional forester, notes that this partnership with Nevada will allow the exploration of “new ways to work together to maximize state and federal resources, skills, and ideas to ensure the health and productivity of National Forest System lands.”

The agreement covers 48 million acres of BLM lands in Nevada, and nearly 6 million acres of National Forest System lands in the state. Those lands cross Forest Service Intermountain and Pacific Southwest regions. That includes 5.6 million acres on the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest; more than 118,000 acres on the Inyo National Forest; and more than 33,000 acres on the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit.

The Good Neighbor Authority was first piloted by the Forest Service in Colorado and Utah in 2000 and expanded to include BLM. It became a permanent authority in the 2014 Farm Bill.

Adds Brad Crowell, director, Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources: “Collaboration is essential to successful natural resource management. The Good Neighbor Authority agreement will ensure that federal and state agencies work in unison to more effectively meet our shared objectives. Together, we will enhance Nevada’s natural resources and protect our communities from wildfire, invasive species and other environmental threats.”

Source: U.S. Forest Service, Intermountain Region