LETTER: Protecting Nevada’s public lands
On Jan. 27, President Joe Biden signed several executive orders designed to protect the environment, including a commitment to the 30 x 30 initiative. This program would designate at least 30 percent of our public lands for protection by the year 2030. Meeting these goals would have wide-reaching benefits, including promoting clean air and water, providing options for outdoor recreation and protecting endangered plants and animals.
While a commitment to this policy on the national level is laudible, we should also adopt these goals on our state and local levels as well. I expect that a bill putting Nevada on course to a state-level implementation of the 30 x 30 goals will be introduced in the 2021 legislative session. Adopting such legislation will not only help Nevada in making progress toward a sustainable future, it will also help buoy the state’s outdoor recreation economy, worth more than $5 billion per year to our state.