THE DESERT NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE HAS BEEN PROTECTED!

This week, the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate voted in veto-proof numbers to pass the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which protects the Desert National Wildlife Refuge in southern Nevada for the next 25 years. This bill is the result of several months of negotiations between the two chambers of Congress in conference, and keeps the previous military boundaries within the Desert NWR intact.

Desert National Wildlife Refuge visitor center by USFWS

The Desert National Wildlife Refuge shares more than half its 1.6 million acres with the Nevada Test and Training Range, which is run by the U.S. Air Force (USAF). The USAF had proposed to take an additional 300,000 acres, and to shrink the Desert NWR down to a fraction of its original size (500,000 acres out of the original 1.6 million acres). While the vast majority of the refuge is currently protected as proposed wilderness areas, the USAF proposal would have eliminated those protections.

However, thanks to several years of advocacy from the Refuge Association, our partner organizations in Nevada and nationwide, and Friends members, this year’s NDAA contains no expansion of military lands! Three years ago, we couldn’t have imagined this result, given that the military was united behind a sizable expansion.

Opposition to the expansion has been vocal, in Nevada and across the country. The Air Force already limits access to the lands they control to both the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the public, meaning there is little management of the lands on the Test and Training Range, little access to tribes, and only a few days of controlled hunts or access to remote water guzzlers. Any expansion would have severely shrunk the areas the public can recreate in, as well as potentially closing the only thru-road in the refuge, the Alamo Road.

Desert bighorn sheep by Craig Stevenson/Nevada Division of Wildlife

We are thrilled with the result of this vote. The Desert NWR, home to the Desert bighorn sheep, Desert tortoise, and slow-growing desert flora like the Joshua Tree, is the largest national wildlife refuge in the lower 48 states. Since President Trump has threatened numerous times to veto this legislation, we are pleased that Congress responded by passing this bill in an overwhelmingly bipartisan manner.

Unfortunately, the fight isn’t over. We expect the Air Force to return next year to attempt to expand their hold on the Desert NWR. We stand prepared to protect these important desert lands for the wildlife that reside there, the hikers, birders, and hunters who visit, and the indigenous people whose sacred sites remain on the refuge. But for now, we celebrate a victory for Desert National Wildlife Refuge and the National Wildlife Refuge System!