RENO — Fire restrictions are now in place across most state and federal lands in western Nevada as of Friday, July 1. A handful of state and federal agencies are asking the public to use extreme caution over the holiday weekend and throughout the summer as they recreate outdoors.
“With increasingly dry vegetation and severe drought conditions, and Fourth of July celebrations approaching, the danger for human-caused wildfires increases even more,” officials said in a statement.
Lands affected by the fire restrictions include:
- All areas, roads and trails on the Bureau of Land Management – Carson City District outside of developed recreation sites except for Moon Rocks Recreation Area. These restrictions are in addition to and not separate from those which were issued at the BLM state level.
- All lands administered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs located within or adjacent to the BLM NV Carson City District. Approximately 300 allotments encompassing 59,310 acres in Douglas County, Nevada, within the Carson Watershed that the U.S. Government (BIA) holds in trust for hundreds of individual Indian landowners, collectively known as the Pine Nut Allotments.
- The order applies to Bureau of Reclamation-administered lands within the Newlands Project boundary administered by the Lahontan Basin Area Office, in Churchill, Lyon, Storey and Washoe counties. Exception: the Lahontan Recreation Area.
- All areas, roads, and trails within the boundaries of the Stillwater, Anaho Island and Fallon National Wildlife Refuges. Campfires are prohibited on these refuge lands year-round.
- State Parks in the Western region, including Spooner Lake and Backcountry, Sand Harbor, Van Sickle, Cave Rock, Berlin Ichthyosaur, Fort Churchill, Walker River, Washoe Lake, Rye Patch, Dayton, Mormon Station, and Lahontan are under more stringent fire restriction. These state parks are restricting all campfires and use of charcoal. All other restrictions listed above are the same.
Fire restrictions prohibit the following:
- Building, maintaining, attending, or using a fire (using wood, charcoal or any other material), campfire or stove fire except a portable stove using gas, jellied petroleum or pressurized liquid fuel outside of a developed fee campground or picnic area (except by permit).
- Smoking, except within an enclosed vehicle or at a developed campground or picnic area.
- Operating vehicles or other motorized equipment off of existing paved, gravel or dirt roads.
- Welding or operating an acetylene torch with open flames, except by permit.
- Using or causing to be used, any explosive, except by permit.
- Possession or use of fireworks or any other incendiary device.
- Use of tracer rounds (always prohibited), steel-core ammunition, or exploding targets, including Binary Explosive Targets while recreational shooting.
People traveling on or using wildland areas should have an axe, shovel and at least a gallon of water in case of emergency, and carry a cell phone to report wildfires.
Prevention tips and more information are available online at https://www.nevadafireinfo.org/
Source: BLM/NDF/BIA/USFWS Interagency News
