Top court won’t hear Nevada road-access case

RENO -- The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to wade into a decade-old dispute between Elko County and the federal government over protection of a threatened fish and public access to a remote road on national forest land.

The high court's refusal to hear the rural county's appeal of a federal appeals court ruling was cheered by environmentalists, who said it reaffirms their right to intervene in the case on behalf of the bull trout.

It means the legal battle over South Canyon Road in northeast Nevada is headed back to U.S. District Court in Reno, where a judge had ruled the conservationists have no legal standing to participate in the case that pits private property interests against environmental protection.

"This has been a long battle," said Michael Freemen, an attorney for Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund representing The Wilderness Society and Colorado-based Great Old Broads for Wilderness.

"We think this is a really big step toward protecting the bull trout, South Canyon and the wilderness area from off-road vehicles and motorized traffic," he said.

Kristin McQueary, Elko County chief civil deputy district attorney, said county officials will review options in light of the court's denial.

The disputed settlement between the county and the U.S. Forest Service was forged in 2001 over the road in Jarbidge, a tiny outpost on the Nevada-Idaho line.

The dirt and gravel road that zigzags through the Jarbidge River, southernmost habitat for the threatened bull trout, led to an outhouse and a trailhead into the Jarbidge Wilderness Area.

After years of legal wrangling, the Forest Service agreed to give Elko County right of way to the road. In return, the county agreed not to perform any road work without prior Forest Service approval.