Residents questioned the timing, need and limitations of an emergency closure to protect fossils on 2,340 acres in the Pine Nut Mountains.
About 50 people attended a session Monday sponsored by the Pine Nut Preservation League on the closure of the section of the eastern Douglas County mountain range.
Tom Crawford of the Bureau of Land Management Field Office showed a map which included proposed routes through the area closed to motor vehicle traffic.
The routes are designed to go around four areas identified as locations where fossils have been found.
"People say you can find fossils all over Nevada, and that's true of shells and plants," he said. "But the Pine Nuts is a paleontological resource that is fairly unique in the state with large vertebrates, such as camels, horses and mastodons."
Crawford said Fran Hull of the BLM is mapping trails through the closed area.
He said work is continuing south of Pinenut Road, which crosses the closed area.
The emergency closure will remain in effect until a Pine Nut Management Plan is completed. According to Crawford, the area affected is one of critical environmental concern.
In addition to the trails marked on a large map on display at the front of the room at the Fish Springs Volunteer Fire Station, where the meeting was held, Crawford said there will be posted staging areas at the entrance to the area.
"There are two old gravel pits that are de facto motocross areas that will also be accessible," he said.
Crawford said that as part of the closure all the legal trails will be marked and that as soon as the Bureau completes its public education process, rangers will ticket violators.
Preservation League president John Dicks, who served as moderator at the meeting, warned residents that the BLM had tried to designate routes at Sand Mountain, only to have them ignored and in some cases vandalized.
"They asked nicely and we saw that after an hour someone pulled a sign out of the post hole," he said. "As a result, the BLM came to the council and we told them to take the next step. I think a few people destroyed it for everyone there."
Resident Terry Faff said he believes the federal government should maintain a no-net-loss policy, opening up areas that have been closed.
Members of the Pine Nut Mountain Trail Association were scheduled to meet Tuesday night at Pau-Wa-Lu Middle School on the same issue.
Contact Kurt Hildebrand at khildebrand@recordcourier.com or 782-5121, ext. 215.
