When I first saw the natural area on my maps, I could not understand why such a small area would have the designation. It simply didn’t make sense to me. If an area is to be set aside for wildlife habitat, it always needs to be large enough to accomplish the task. Even though Evans Ranch was private property, that space should have been purchased by the BLM and included in the plan. The “County Highway” (dirt road! but on the map) could have remained as an access point.

My last trips to Petersen were a couple of months ago and there was still quite a bit of snow on the ground. Little evidence of recent Mule Deer activity but it did seem to have the possibility of providing good feed and cover during the limited migrations during spring and fall.

I will certainly support all opposition to the Evans Ranch development.

Al

Thank you everyone for their letters of opposition to this 5,000+ new home development and a bigger thanks to those who came to the meeting last night. I did not stay the entire time, but for those who did THANK YOU! The City Council obviously has a serious lack of leadership when they see little problem in allowing 3 homes per acre 18 miles from downtown.

We’ll continue to follow this project and keep you posted on the impacts and actions we can continue to take to Petersen wild.

Here’s what I sent on 4-5. Hope it wasn’t too late.

Ms. Lynette Jones
Reno City Clerk
Reno, Nevada

Dear Ms. Jones:

I passionately oppose the proposed Evans Ranch Development. Kindly add my email comments to those to be delivered to the Reno City Council at its scheduled hearing on April 9, 2008. As a native Nevadan born in Reno and raised in Steamboat, my love for Nevada’s wild places contains the intensity of heart-and-memory. I hiked the hills, camped on horseback in the Sierras, skied the slopes, flew kites at Rattlesnake Mountain, swam in Tahoe and Pyramid, rafted the Truckee, toured ghost towns, and mines, and museums, slept under the stars in the Black Rock Desert (years before “Burning Man”), and saw these in their wild and free habitat: coyotes, wild horses, snakes, and owls.

Not every American can have memories like the ones I’ve described above. I urge you to reject the proposed Evans Ranch Development that would add as many as 15,000 residents to this remote valley. That many people generating 1.6 million gallons of sewage per day in and of itself totally negates any of them ever having memories like mine. What kind of quality of living would this be for proposed new residents, let alone for the people of Reno whose way of life would be destroyed? Certainly not the kind that would allow for the kinds of memories that I have of growing up there!

Leave it alone, please, for the wildlife that need and deserve our respect for their right to live. Leave it alone for the vegetation that holds the soil. Leave it alone for space. Leave it alone for quiet. Leave it alone for future generations to know places like Petersen Mountain.

I now live in Oregon and cannot be there to attend the hearing, but I care deeply about the outcome of this case.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,
Melladee Makelacy
510 Norway Ave.
Silverton, Oregon 97381

As a native born Nevadan, seeing the destruction of available land for the profit of home-builders and construction companies greatly saddens me. I was born here in Reno and grew up enjoying the land for many uses like hiking, riding my horses and dirtbikes/quads or just for its aesthetic appeal.

I also am concerned not only for the loss of recreation but also the negative environmental effects this development will create. This development will create sewage, people, traffic, it will use water and give light pollution. Living in Reno means we live in a valley, and as an asthma sufferer I am very aware that if the right mixture of elements are not present then pollution will settle in the valley, adding 5556 homes will intensify this.

Adding 5556 homes will also destroy some of what little land is left to the wildlife. Deer, rabbits, bears, wild horses, coyotes etc are already wandering through neighborhoods due to lack of food and land. Think about all the reported sightings these past few years and realise the increase. These animals are suffering and need what room they have left to continue to live.

Another thing is the housing market, yes it will get better but Reno for the most part is a transition town, people come here gamble and leave within a matter of a few years. The home developments that have been built already arent even filled, some developments that were in progress have been stopped. This Evans Ranch is unnecessary and poses some real dangers to Reno’s humans and surrounding wildlife.

I will be VERY dissapointed if this project is approved and am requesting its denial.

Thankyou,

Courtney Burke

Owner

Peavine Services

574 Gentry Way

Reno, NV 89502

Thanks for your comments. Let me encourage you to send in a quick email; volume counts, and a quick personal statement like the one in this post can be a drop in a river of comments. Keep coming back to the site for more trip reports and the like! Cheers