RENO - Conservationists and Sagebrush Rebels clashed Friday over a tentative settlement in a dispute over a remote dirt road that has become a rallying point for some anti-environmental westerners.
The settlement between the Forest Service and Elko County would allow the road near Jarbidge to be rebuilt under strict federal environmental guidelines aimed at protecting the region's endangered bull trout.
Trout Unlimited officials criticized the proposed agreement, saying it would hurt the bull trout and only encourage Elko County to further defy the Forest Service.
The group has fought to keep the 1-mile-long road leading to a major Jarbidge Wilderness trailhead closed, saying its reopening would damage the trout's habitat in the adjacent Jarbidge River.
''This (agreement) is not only bad for fish and bad for the Jarbidge River, this is terrible public policy,'' said Trout Unlimited spokesman Jeff Curtis.
''Rewarding people who refuse to play by the rules will only encourage further actions against the rule of law. The Elko County Commission has a record of antagonism (against environmental laws). This action will reward that behavior.''
But Assemblyman John Carpenter, R-Elko, a leading Sagebrush Rebel, blasted the tentative agreement for different reasons. He urged Elko County commissioners to not even consider it for a vote.
The Sagebrush Rebellion, spawned by Nevada miners and ranchers in the late 1970s, is an effort to shift control of public land from the federal government to the states.
Carpenter said he's upset because the settlement calls for the road to reopen under federal supervision rather than the county's. He insisted the bull trout is a ''phony issue'' aimed at halting its reopening.
''The language has to be changed to make sure the ownership of the road belongs to the county,'' he said. ''There's no question the road belongs to the county and we have to assert our rights.
''Some things have to be sacred to us in rural Nevada and access to our public lands is one of them. Why live in rural Nevada if we're put in a concentration camp? We have to have access.''
The county commission is expected to either accept, reject or table the settlement at a Wednesday meeting.
Sierra Club spokeswoman Marge Sill of Sparks also expressed concerns over the settlement, saying she fears a return of motorized vehicles to the road could harm the trout.
''The road is located in a steep canyon with very erodable soils,'' she said. ''Vehicles on it can cause erosion that could hurt the trout and dam up the stream.
''We would like to see the road reopen as a trail for hikers and horses.''
But under the proposed agreement, there's no guarantee the road will be reopened. The Forest Service first must complete a lengthy environmental impact statement.
Bob Williams, Nevada supervisor of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, questioned whether the road can be rebuilt because of potential harm to the bull trout.
''It is not a foregone conclusion it can happen,'' he told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
The tentative agreement isn't expected to stop an independent group calling itself the Jarbidge Shovel Brigade from arriving at the road July 3 and 4 and trying to reopen it by hand.
A similar attempt to reopen the road was blocked by a court injunction last October.