Facility crucial for restoring wildlife habitat across Nevada

December 1, 2009

Washington, D.C. – Nevada Senator Harry Reid today made the following statement on the Bureau of Land Management’s process of constructing a regional seed warehouse in Ely.

“Nevada has faced some tremendous fires in recent years.  These burns have destroyed critical sage grouse and mule deer habitat and allowed invasive weeds to spread.  It is essential that we get a better handle on large fires and that we aggressively tend to our public lands once fires are put out.  That is why I asked then-Secretary of Interior Dirk Kempthorne to put a major seed facility in Nevada.  The Bureau of Land Management is now moving ahead with the planning and construction of a 1 million pound seed warehouse in Ely.  This new facility will give land managers ready access to the native seed supplies they need to restore and protect rangelands and vital wildlife habitat across the state.  I thank the BLM for their hard work in moving this process along.”