Esmeralda County Repository Oversight Program
Of Esmeralda County’s 2,284,800 acres of surface areas, 2,247,863 acres or ninety-eight (98.79%) percent of the County’s total area, are controlled and managed by the federal government. Of these federally-managed public lands, approximately 2,183,146 acres of Esmeralda County are managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM), 61,520 acres are managed by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), and 3,197 acres are managed by the National Park Service (NPS). The acreage managed by the U.S. Forest Service includes primarily lands of the Inyo National Forest located within the White Mountain Range. National Park Service lands consist of the extreme northeast corner of Death Valley National Monument. Relative to Nevada’s seventeen counties, Esmeralda County ranks as the highest in terms of its percentage of federally owned land.
One of the options being considered by the DOE for a rail line through Nevada is the Mina route which begins 5 miles north of Mina in Mineral County on the Southern Pacific branch line to Mina. The proposed option follows the U.S. Highway 95 corridor to the south past Coaldale. It would then cross U.S. Highway 95 in Esmeralda County, passing to the west of Goldfield, and cross Nevada Highway 265, passing to the west of Silverpeak. This route would continue through the Montezuma Mountains through Railroad Pass, which would require considerable development in order to meet grade restrictions, and cross Highways 266 and 267 before crossing U.S. Highway 95 on its way to Yucca Mountain.
