LETTER: Nevada invests in saving wildlife

On June 9, Assembly Bill 112 completed its unlikely journey through the lawmaking process without opposition and with unanimous votes in committee, the Assembly and the Senate and was signed into law by Gov. Joe Lombardo.

Introduced by the Joint Interim Standing Committee on Natural Resources, championed by Assemblyman Howard Watts of the 15th District, and supported by a broad coalition of conservation and sporting organizations, the law establishes a new account within the state’s general fund, replete with a $5 million appropriation to be used as match money that will leverage federal funding for construction of wildlife friendly infrastructure, specifically safe highway crossings for migrating big game and other wildlife. The fund will be administered collaboratively by the Nevada Department of Transportation and the Nevada Department of Wildlife. Nevada joins several other western states that have created similar funds over the past two years.

Coincidentally, the Coalition for Nevada’s Wildlife, with the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, created a list of Top Ten Conservation Priorities for 2023 this spring and shared the document with Gov. Lombardo. One of the top priorities is to conserve big game migration corridors and connectivity of seasonal habitat. The wildlife crossings account can go a long way toward accomplishing this priority.

These are wonderful steps forward as Nevada has so much to conserve — sage brush and sage-grouse, native grasslands, iconic mule deer herds, precious rivers, streams, springs and unique desert wetlands — but the state’s sportsmen and women understand that if future generations are to enjoy the natural wonders, more good work and legislation must happen now.