Air Force agrees to land swap

Military officials say they will return to the public use 3,500 acres more than their withdrawal at Groom Lake.

Susan Greene
Review-Journal

The Air Force has agreed to swap 7,500 acres in the Nellis Air Force Range for public land it has withdrawn near its classified Groom Lake air base, Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., announced Thursday.

Earlier this month, the Air Force took control of 4,000 acres of Bureau of Land Management land to create a buffer zone around its Area 51 testing facility near Groom Lake in Lincoln County.

Environmentalists, state officials and federal lawmakers for several years have asked Nellis officials to compensate for that planned withdrawal by relinquishing unused land within their 3.5 million-acre range.

In an unprecedented move by the military in Nevada, the Air Force has agreed to their request.

Nellis spokesmen would not confirm the land exchange Thursday, and Gen. Richard Bethurem, the base's commander, was unavailable to comment on the details of the deal.

But Col. Ronald Sconyers, a spokesman for Air Force Secretary Sheila Widnall, said "the exchange is absolutely, 100 percent under way."

As agreed, the Air Force will return to public use 3,500 acres more than its withdrawal at Groom Lake.

That land includes 1,600 acres for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Desert National Wildlife Refuge, 2,000 acres for use by the Nevada Army National Guard and 3,600 acres near Indian Springs slated for the Bureau of Land Management.

"Well hallelujah. Praise the Lord. This is great news," said Reno-based activist Grace Bukowski of the Rural Alliance for Military Accountability. "This is what we've been working for, a true victory for the people of Nevada."

Bukowski and other environmentalists and military watchdogs hope the land swap sets a precedent for military takings of public land in Nevada, specifically the Navy's plans to withdraw 189,000 acres of BLM wilderness as buffer zones around its ranges at the Fallon Naval Air Station.

"From now on, if they take our land in this state, they'll have to give some back," Bukowski said.

Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., who negotiated the Air Force land exchange for three years, pledged Thursday to push for "no net loss" of public lands in future military withdrawals.

"I hope to establish the principle that the services examine their needs and are willing to release lands when they ask for more acreage," said Bryan, who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee. "As for the Navy, we'll certainly ask them to examine their request and see if they also have land to relinquish."

The Air Force is working to withdraw 107,000 more acres within the wildlife refuge, which pilots have pocked with practice bombs since 1940.

Fish and Wildlife officials have deemed that use incompatible with the goals of a refuge and pledged to hand over the land if the Air Force agrees to a swap similar to the Groom Lake agreement.

Negotiations on that exchange are ongoing.