Peakbaggers and outdoor adventurers ought to be aware that the U.S. Air Force is proposing to expand the Nellis Test and Training Range and take over 227,000 acres of the Desert National Wildlife Refuge. Public access to this area would be lost, placing Hayford Peak (an ultra-prominence peak), Sheep Peak, Hidden Forest Canyon and the Alamo Road off-limits. This would make Hayford the only lower 48 Ultra without legal access. It would cause big problems with scientific monitoring and management of the desert bighorn population (the whole reason for Desert NWR), and be a major loss for remote, uncrowded recreational opportunities in southern Nevada.

Public comments will be collected until December 10, 2016. Submit comments here: http://www.nttrleis.com/comment.aspx Ultimately, it is Congress that will decide, but recreationalists should make their opinions known in the EIS. Make your voice heard, or else plan to climb Hayford in the near future to kiss it goodbye.

For plenty more details and guidelines for effective commenting, Friends of Nevada Wilderness and Basin and Range Watch have helpful resources:
http://www.nevadawilderness.org/dnwr
http://basinandrangewatch.org/Military-Base-expansion.html

I submitted my comments. Thanks for bringing this to broader attention. The Sheep Range really is a beautiful place. You don;t want to have this whole range suddenly off-limits.

I have also submitted comments expressing concern about the proposed withdrawal of public lands, and urge others to do the same before the December 10, 2016 deadline.

Thank you also to jfrishmanIII for spreading the word about this situation. The Basin and Range Watch page in particular has a very useful discussion of the nature of the expansion and how it would affect the Desert National Wildlife Refuge. I recommend using this and other resources for making informed comments.

I submitted my comments also. I would hate to see the mountain removed from the Public. My son and I loved our trip up there last year.

Submitted comments and bump to thread. Sheep Range is far to rare an area to So NV to lose to another Federal appropriation. NTTR already has control over 2 million acres.

Bump. Please comment on the proposed military takeover of Hayford Peak and Desert National Wildlife Refuge by the December 10th deadline. Feel free to repurpose language from my own comment (at the link below). And please share wherever you can!

https://frishmanphoto.wordpress.com/2016/12/06/preserve-the-desert-national-wildlife-refuge/

It appears that Hayford Peak will remain publicly accessible. Here is a map showing the proposed expansion of the Nellis Range (the blue lines):

http://www.nttrleis.com/Preliminary%20P ... e%203C.pdf

Thanks to Andy Martin and Ron Moe for circulating this.

Note that the new boundaries will abut Alamo Road, so peaks west of this road will be off limits...

That's a map of one proposed alternative, so it's certainly not a done deal. Nice to see that Hidden Forest and Hayford remain accessible under that alternative, but note the loss of Alamo Road north of the Hidden Forest turnoff, and the loss of Desert Dry Lake.

That map suggests lots of prime areas would become inaccessible, e.g.
http://hwstock.org/ram3/

My biased view: the USAF has been dropping stuff (gas drop tanks, radar targets) on that area for years without oversight. They want to change their illegal activities to legal by fiat.

Brand new article:
https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/military/why-vast-air-force-training-range-in-nevada-feels-small-needs-to-grow/