Nevada's Ruby Mountains are too precious to pollute

The Ruby Mountains of Northeastern Nevada have 10 peaks above 11,000 feet, dozens of lofty waterfalls, and breathtaking alpine lakes. It's been called America’s “Little Yosemite” and “the Swiss Alps of Nevada,” and it's a place worth protecting from the Trump Administration's relentless drive to exploit oil and gas reserves.

The administration is pushing the Bureau of Land Management and US Forest Service to to allow oil & gas exploration in 54,000 acres of Nevada's beloved Ruby Mountains. This threatens both the health of the Ruby Mountains landscape and the local economy depending on outdoor recreation.

The economic value of places like the Ruby Mountains and public lands in general is particularly important to Nevada, where outdoor recreation industry contributes a lot. In Elko County two-thirds of the tourism comes from outdoor recreation primarily on public lands. Outdoor recreation generated an average of $165 million annually through commercial retail sales, services, lodging and personal income in Elko County.

Oil and gas development in the area would threaten several federally threatened Lahontan Cutthroat Trout streams and other high-quality fisheries, sage-grouse habitat; priority crucial mule deer winter habitat and migratory corridor; and other game habitat, like elk, mountain goat, bighorn, Himalayan snowcock. The areas affected by oil and gas development would overlap with 17,000 acres of inventoried roadless areas that were classified as having high wilderness value by the Forest Service in 2005.

Additionally, traditional and cultural use of the area and associated activities for the Te-Moak Western Shoshone within or near the proposed lands would be impacted by oil & gas exploration.

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Nevada's Ruby Mountains are too precious to pollute

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Protect the Ruby Mountains and deny all oil and gas exploration in its 54,000 acres. Such activity would threaten the environment and jeopardize the local economy, which depends on the natural beauty of the area. In Elko County two-thirds of the tourism comes from outdoor recreation primarily on public lands. Outdoor recreation generated an average of $165 million annually through commercial retail sales, services, lodging and personal income in Elko County. Oil and gas development in the area would threaten several federally threatened Lahontan Cutthroat Trout streams and other high-quality fisheries, sage-grouse habitat; priority crucial mule deer winter habitat and migratory corridor; and other game habitat, like elk, mountain goat, bighorn, Himalayan snowcock. The areas affected by oil and gas development would overlap with 17,000 acres of inventoried roadless areas that were classified as having high wilderness value by the Forest Service in 2005. Additionally, traditional and cultural use of the area and associated activities for the Te-Moak Western Shoshone within or near the proposed lands would be impacted by oil & gas exploration.

USDA Photo by Susan Elliot, CC BY 2.0