Van Sickle conservation easement completed

Even as a conservation easement on the historic Van Sickle Ranch was completed, the Bureau of Land Management issued a call for public comment on the sale of almost 900 acres in the Las Vegas Valley.

The connection between the two actions, more than 400 miles apart, is the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act.

According to the BLM, 85 percent of the money raised by the sale of land around Las Vegas is used to fund development of parks and trails, mitigation of fire danger and acquisition of sensitive land across the Silver State. The Southern Nevada Water Authority receives a tenth of the proceeds and 5 percent goes to the state’s education fund.

The program has preserved around 18,000 acres of ranch land in Carson Valley.

The 417.84 Van Sickle Ranch property was nominated in 2017, along with 2,835 acres belonging to the Park family around the Dangberg Historic Home Ranch. The government couldn’t come to an agreement on price for property with the Parks, and that sale was terminated.

However, Van Sickle property owner Gail Teig persevered through the six-year process, which was finalized in June.

In addition to the ranch, located east of Foothill Road below Van Sickle Station, last year the county accepted a 20-foot wide right-of-way extending to the trailhead for the Nature Conservancy off Muller Lane.

Tieg and Legacy Land and Water are donating $8,000 to conduct an annual site inspection and report over the next two decades.

Born July 28, 1822, Henry Van Sickle was a 30-year-old blacksmith when he arrived in Carson Valley in 1852, according to an obituary published in the Genoa Weekly Courier on Nov. 30, 1894.

Van Sickle was one of the first three commissioners appointed in 1861 to organize the county in the newly formed Nevada territory, before twice being elected to the office.