Political Quotes

“to best answer the Senator's question, it is important to start with the history of the Desert National Wildlife Refuge. The establishment of the Desert National Wildlife Refuge predates the Nevada Test and Training Range and was created by President Franklin Roosevelt on May 20, 1936, via Executive Order 7373. FDR created the Desert Game Range, as it was known then, to provide habitat and protection for desert bighorn sheep, Nevada's State animal. Originally the Range totaled more than 2.25 million acres, including lands both north and south of U.S. Highway 95. We know even more today about the value of this area. The Desert National Wildlife Refuge contains six mountain ranges and seven distinct life zones, with elevations ranging from 2,200 feet to nearly 10,000 feet. The variations in elevation and rainfall have created diverse habitats, necessary for its hundreds of species of native flora and fauna to live and flourish. There are currently two species listed as endangered or threatened: notably the Pahrump Poolfish and the Desert Tortoise. This area was under the joint administration of the Bureau of Fisheries, the predecessor to the Fish and Wildlife Service-- USFWS--which was not created until 1940, and the Bureau of Land Management--BLM. Today, the Desert National Wildlife Refuge is the largest wildlife refuge outside Alaska.…”