Document type:  Newspaper article
Publication:  Las Vegas Sun
Date:  Monday, November 20, 1995
Page:  2B
Title:  Sheep hunters obtain access to Nellis range
Author:  Rachael Levy, Las Vegas Sun

Nevada bighorn sheep hunters have all but gained permanent access 
to a portion of the Nellis Air Force Base bombing range, a state 
biologist said.

For the second year in a row, six hunters purchased tags to hunt the 
prized animal on Stonewall Mountain, an area that runs parallel to 
U.S. 95 between Beatty and Tonopah.

Supervising wildlife biologist Mike Cox said he is confident a 
permanent agreement will be reached between state and Defense 
Department officials, who he says have yet to sign a memorandum of 
understanding.

For more than six months, Nellis officials and state biologists have 
been negotiating for a section of the bombing range. The deal was 
expected to have been signed this past summer.

Until 1994's successful trial hunt, the land had never been touched 
by sportsmen. The arrangement allows hunters and fighter pilots to 
share nearly 60 square miles of land, instead of the current 10 
square miles, Cox said.

A Nellis captain said earlier this year that the Stonewall Mountain 
area is not heavily bombed, but used as a turnaround point.

Hunters are briefed on ways to identify and avoid injury should they 
discover bombs and other munitions on the range.

"They're still actively bombing and ... we're having to work around 
them," Cox said.

Last fall, 256 sportsmen applied to hunt in the Stonewall Mountain 
area in November and December, Cox said. This year's figures were 
expected to be higher.

Six hunters were given tags to track the bighorn sheep, Nevada's 
official state animal.  They paid $100 to $800 for the chance, 
depending on whether they were residents or lived out of state.

The Air Force agreed in the mid-1980s to permit 10 square miles of 
public access on Stonewall Mountain in exchange for closing off land 
near Groom Lake, a military complex the government does not 
acknowledge exists.

That land borders Freedom Ridge, an area that was closed to the 
public this year due to military concerns about security.

The Stonewall Mountain expansion would be the second Nellis 
bombing range site to permit hunting. The first site is in the southern 
portion of the 3-million-acre range, just north of Indian Springs.

####