A big Thank You to everyone who participated in the Lincoln County Community Lands Plan survey. Approximately 300 mail-in surveys and 70 surveys from high school students were received. The results are now available to download on our Survey page.

Lincoln County is calling on all of its citizens and property owners to help define its future Community Lands. This effort is called the Lincoln County Community Lands Plan.

The BLM, through the Lincoln County Conservation Recreation and Development Act, will dispose of roughly 90,000 acres of land in the next 20 years. While a majority of this land will be available for private development, Lincoln County has the opportunity to obtain up to 15,000 acres of public land from the BLM for parks and recreational uses adjacent to existing communities. The county also has the opportunity to plan for and protect existing public recreational use areas on BLM lands that may later be sold for private development. “It is important for the County to protect access to their favorite places in addition to places around their communities that that they do not want to see developed,” commented Clint Wertz, Lincoln County Planning Director.

In addition to BLM lands, certain areas such as agricultural lands are an important part of each community. The agricultural lands within and around each community are likely to experience development pressures in the future. If a community wants to preserve agricultural land, the owner must receive fair compensation. “The Plan will also offer tools to conserve agricultural land if that is the direction the citizens would like to go,” said Lynn Zonge of Resource Concepts, consultant for the plan.

“The Lincoln County Community Lands Plan will enable the County to identify unique assets, to develop policies for acquiring, maintaining and improving certain lands, and to set priorities for conservation of high value lands,” said Clint Wertz. “Identified lands may include those with cultural, historic, or wildlife importance, and agricultural, scenic or recreational values. This Plan will identify strategies for the conservation of private lands or public lands slated for future sale. The Plan will also contain a policy framework for management of parks and trails countywide.”

One thousand residences and landowners will be receiving a six-page survey in the mail in April. “We hope folks will take the time to fill out the survey and mail them in using the convenient postage-paid envelope,” said Holley Gatzke with the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension Service. The Cooperative Extension will tabulate the survey responses. “Survey responses are a key component to the planning process. The plan needs to reflect the desires of the Lincoln County landowners and this survey is one tool we are using to understand those desires,” said Clint Wertz.

The Lincoln County Planning Department has contracted with Resource Concepts, Inc. (RCI) to develop the Lincoln County Community Lands Plan. RCI is a multidisciplinary firm based in Carson City and has broad experience working with projects within Lincoln County as well as other rural counties in Nevada over the past 30 years. RCI is teamed with Winston Associates in order to provide Lincoln County with both the technical resources and planning vision for the Community Lands Plan. “Participation in the creation of the Lincoln County Community Lands Plan allows Lincoln County residents a once-in-a-lifetime-opportunity to ensure legacy of community lands for future generations and ensure they can enjoy similar amenities and recreational opportunities” said Jeff Winston, principal of Winston Associates. “Using our combination of County knowledge and land planning expertise, including public inputs, we will develop a meaningful and useful plan that meets the needs of the Lincoln County citizens,” commented John McLain, principal of Resource Concepts.

The survey and maps with additional information are available on this website using the links near the top of the page.