The Bureau of Land Management is planning to trade 732 acres of public land in Washoe County for more than 11,600 acres of now-private land stretching from Washoe and Storey to Carson City and Lyon County.
The land BLM is giving up is mostly in Sun Valley and Spanish Springs, which are rapidly developing urban areas at the northern borders of Reno and Sparks.
In exchange, the American Land Conservancy is offering a long list of property in the Virginia Range. BLM Real Estate manager Chuck Pope said the property extends along the Virginia Range from Carson City north to Geiger Grade and from New Washoe City to Virginia City.
Pope said the land will provide open space and recreational opportunities as well as protect environmentally sensitive property from development. The property that would go to the conservancy for private sale is valued at a total of $1,562,000. The lands BLM would be acquiring are valued at least $178,000 higher than that.
He said the land deal will also help consolidate the checkerboard of public and private land ownership in that part of the Virginia Range. The land is now owned by the Laborde family.
The lands also contain some cultural resources, including possible native American religious, traditional and archaeological sites, according to federal officials.
Officials are inviting public comment on the plan through the first week of July.
To comment:
Write the Bureau of Land Management
Assistant manager, nonrenewable resources
5665 Morgan Mill Road
Carson City, NV 89701
