Nev. largely controlled by federal agencies
By Conor Shine, Las Vegas Sun
If you were to amass all of the federally owned land in Nevada, the 10 smallest states in America, plus Guam, would fit inside.
Many conservative Nevadans view the federal government’s presence — it owns about 85 percent of the state — as an overreach, an argument that motivated the Sagebrush Rebellion in the 1970s and ’80s and the Cliven Bundy standoff in 2014. Liberal opponents, however, point out the federal government provides many services, such as wildfire protection, that the state couldn’t afford if it managed the land.
The debate was rekindled this month when President Obama designated 700,000 acres in southeastern Nevada as the Basin and Range National Monument, fulfilling a longtime goal of ally Sen. Harry Reid.
