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The legislation of public lands began with the Land Ordinance Act of 1785 and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787.
These laws were enacted to provide for surveys and settlement of the original 13 colonies and were used in later land
acquisitions from France, Spain and other countries. Congress directed that the new federal lands be explored,
surveyed and made available for settlement. The General Land Office, a division of the Department of the Treasury,
was established in 1812 to survey and then sell federal wilderness land for agricultural use and to generate revenue to
pay war debts. The Homestead Act of 1862 added another task to the General Land Office through the allocation of
free government lands for agricultural settlement in approximately 30 states and territories
There was a shift in federal land management policies and priorities
in the late 19th century with the creation of the first national parks,
forests and wildlife refuges. By protecting these special places,
congress sent the signal that certain lands should be owned by the
public for their resource value. Congress also enacted additional
legislation regarding the value, real and intrinsic, of public lands.
The Mineral Leasing Act of 1920 allowed production of marketable
subsurface resources such as coal, oil and gas.The U.S. Grazing
Service, formed in 1934, established standards for livestock grazing
on public lands.

The General Land Office and the U.S. Grazing Service merged in 1946
to form the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) within the Department
of Interior. In 1976, the BLM received its legislated mandate, the
Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA), which superseded
over 2,000 unrelated and sometimes conflicting laws for managing the
public lands. The preamble for FLPMA states: To establish public land
policy; to establish guidelines for its administration; to provide for the
management, protection, development, and enhancement of the public
lands; and for other purposes. As a result of FLPMA, homesteading
ended in 1976 in the continental United States and in 1986 in Alaska.
The BLM is responsible for managing and protecting more than 253 million surface acres, or one-eighth of the
United States, plus 700 million subsurface mineral estate acres. They do this with approximately 10,000 employees
on a budget (2009 data) of less than $3.80 per acre. Compare this information with the National Park Service: the
NPS manages and protects approximately 84.4 million acres of National Parks, Monuments and Memorials (for
reference: Nevada has 70.7 million total acres) with over 20,000 employees with a budget (2009) of slightly less than
$33 per acre.
(continued from page 10) Then came the need to effectively manage the land…
One-eighth of the book contains bibliography and notes, which is also interesting reading. They cite Helen J.
Stewart’s Memoirs, Archie (her first husband) and Helen’s Day Book, various public records, census reports,
early California and Nevada newspapers, personal letters and papers, as well as numerous books and articles.
Maps of the valley from 1900 and 1905 show the Las Vegas Ranch, Helen’s home for twenty years, in what is
now downtown Las Vegas. Also shown are the home sites of Helen’s few neighbors, mountain ranges and
springs with names familiar to all of us such as Tule Springs, Calico Spring, Red Spring and Charleston Peak.

On March 25th, during an Author’s Visit at the Clark County Library, I had the opportunity to see Helen Stewart
brought to life by co-author and historian Carrie Townley Porter. After telling Helen’s story as Helen, dressed in
a pink period skirt, jacket and matching hat, Carrie switched to telling Helen’s story as her biographer. That day
I met a Helen Stewart who was poised and self-confident; a doer, not just an observer. Carrie portrayed Helen as
calm when faced with adversity, a devoted mother, a good friend and a community organizer working to fulfill
the needs of the people of the new city of Las Vegas.

Helen was a woman you’d like to know and you’d be honored and blessed to be her friend. Thank you to
authors Sally Zanjani and Carrie Townley Porter for bringing Helen’s story to our community.
In the Beginning...

(continued from page 7)

Red Rock Canyon has grown from its humble beginnings as a 10,000 acre
National Recreation Land to almost a 196,000 acre National Conservation Area
stretching over 30 miles from south of State Route 160 to north of State Route
156. Red Rock includes over 60 miles of hiking trails, countless climbing

routes, equestrian and cycling areas, a campground as well as two designated
Wilderness Areas.

"In order to conserve, protect and enhance for the benefit and enjoyment of present and future generations the area
in southern Nevada containing and surrounding the Red Rock Canyon and the unique and nationally important

geologic, archeological, ecological, cultural, scenic, scientific, wildlife, riparian, wilderness, endangered species
and recreation resources of the public lands therein contained, there is established the Red Rock Canyon National
Conservation Area." ~ Enabling Legislation establishing Red Rock Canyon as a National Conservation Area.

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