LAS VEGAS (AP) — Top federal land administrators came to Las Vegas Saturday to dedicate a sprawling new national monument in southern Nevada.
U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and Bureau of Land Management Director Neil Kornze joined Democratic U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, Congresswoman Dina Titus and local officials for an evening ceremony at the Springs Preserve in Las Vegas.
President Barack Obama in July designated some 1,100 square miles of rangeland and mountains in Nye and Lincoln counties as Basin and Range National Monument.
The monument covers an area the size of Rhode Island about a two-hour drive north of Las Vegas.
National monument designation protects the area from development, resource extraction and land swaps.
Nevada Republican elected officials complained that they weren't consulted before the presidential action.