Testimony of John H. Milton, III
Senate Committee on Environment and
Public Works
Subcommittee on Transportation,
Infrastructure, and Nuclear Safety
Senator Reid, members of the
Committee, good afternoon. My name is
John H. Milton, III and I am the senior member of the Humboldt County, Nevada,
Commission and a member of the Board of Directors of the Nevada Association of
Counties. Thank you for the opportunity
to spend a few minutes discussing “Western Transportation Issues” and the
Federal Lands Highway Program in particular.
As you are aware Senator Reid, over 87%
of the land in our state is managed and controlled by the Federal
Government. The majority of this land accessed over County maintained
roads. Most of these roads are gravel
which require a high level of maintenance.
In Humboldt County, we have 941 miles of County maintained roads in our
system. Of that amount 669 miles, or
71% of our system, serve Federal lands.
These lands do not generate revenue, which can be used for the building
new roads or the maintaining of existing roads.
In reviewing the Federal Lands Highway
program, I noticed that the majority of this money goes into the Public Lands
Highway category. In that category, 66%
goes to Forest Highways and 33% goes to the discretionary program. In Humboldt County and the majority of
Nevada, the Department of the Interior is the manager of the Federal Lands and
they receive no funding in this program.
In Nevada, there are approximately 61.7
million acres of federal land of which 51.1 million acres are administered by
the Department of the Interior, primarily BLM.
I would recommend that in the reauthorization you consider a new
category related to these lands which similar to current categories for Refuge
Roads, and Park Roads and Parkways.
The Sheldon Antelope Refuge is the only
wildlife refuge located in Humboldt County. Access to this refuge is via a
County Road. We believe we should be
allowed to access the Refuge Road Category for improvements to this County
Road. We currently receive $5,000 a
year in revenue sharing from the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, but return
$2,500 to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the maintenance of the Virgin
Valley Campground. This does not leave
much for maintenance of the roads leading to or within the refuge.
In April of 2000, I appeared before the
Senate Subcommittee on Forest and Public Land Management to testify on the
Black Rock Desert-High Rock Canyon Emigrant Trails National Conservation Area
(NCA). At that time one of the concerns
I expressed was access to the NCA via our county road system. That bill became law and my concerns have
not gone away. Most, if not all, of the
major access points are reached by County Roads. Many of these are Humboldt County Roads, including the Cedarville
Road which provides access to the NCA and the Sheldon Antelope Range, and the
95-mile road from Winnemucca to Gerlach which provides access to the entire
southern boundary of the NCA. We expect the use of these roads to increase dramatically;
the cost to maintain them will also increase. Improving these roads to handle
increased traffic is beyond our means. For example, the estimate we obtained to
upgrade the road from Winnemucca to Gerlach to an all weather road exceeds
seven million dollars. This does not include the $480,000 cost for cultural
clearance, right of way acquisition, gravel pit development, and water sources
or the $200,000.00 annual cost for maintenance. This road crosses three Counties, none of which can afford to spend
this type of money. Although roads such
as these serve federal lands, Humboldt County maintains them with no assistance
from the federal government.
The access to the Humboldt-Toiyabe
National Forest in Humboldt County is also via our County Road system. We maintain approximately 44.1 additional
miles within the Forest under agreement with the Forest Service. In exchange, the Forest Service maintenance
crew undertakes projects on the County roads leading to the National Forest to
offset our costs incurred by the County for the requested maintenance.
In conclusion, I would ask that you
give strong consideration in the reauthorization of the Transportation Equity
Act of the 21st Century (TEA-21) by addressing the concerns I have
expressed today. In particular I would
ask that a category be created to address the vast holdings of the Department
of the Interior. Also that the public
roads maintained by someone other than the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service be
allowed to utilize the money in Refuge Roads category.
Thank you for the opportunity to
address you concerning the Federal Lands Highway Program today and I would be
happy to answer any questions you may have at this time.