Following the devastating fires of 1999, which burned 1.7 million acres in Northern Nevada, a team from the USDI Bureau of Land Management (BLM) published two reports, the first identifying the need to restore the Great Basin and the second identifying the steps to make it happen. The BLM and others drew three conclusions from the reports:

Spurred on by these findings, the Ely Nevada BLM Field Of. ce and others concluded that restoration of the Great Basin would only happen with the support and participation of state and local agencies, tribal governments, universities, natural resource groups, and communities. The BLM moved quickly to garner support. Their efforts materialized in 2001 with the founding of The Eastern Nevada Landscape Coalition (ENLC), an unprecedented community-based partnership for landscape-level restoration of the eastern Nevada Great Basin ecosystem.The ENLC membership has grown quickly, now standing at more than 100, and so has its commitment to full partnership with the Ely Nevada BLM Field Office in restoring the Great Basin.

Rock Mountain Elk Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, Nevada Cattlemen’s Association, City of Ely, Ely Shoshone Tribe, Nevada Association of Counties, Tri-County Weed District, White Pine County Commission, Nevada Department of Agriculture, Nevada Division of Wildlife, Nevada Senator Dean A. Rhoads, State of Nevada Commission for the Preservation of Wild Horses, Red Rock Audubon Society, Nevada Farm Bureau, Society of Range Management – Nevada, Big Horns Unlimited, Nevada Wild Land Seed Producers, Newark/Long Valley Cooperative Weed Management Area, White River Valley Cooperative Weed Management Area, Railroad Valley Cooperative Weed Management Area, Snake Valley Cooperative Weed Management Area, federal agencies, and others.

During BLM fiscal years 2003-2006, the ENLC worked on more than 8.7 million acres in six watersheds; activities included restoration, treatments, inventories, and data collection. Achievements include:

• Surveyed more than four million acres and 10,000 sites.
• Restored and reseeded more than 2,000 acres.
• Inventoried more than 6 million acres for noxious and invasive weeds.
• Received FY 2004 and 2005 grants to implement restoration projects in the Gleason Creek and Smith Valley watersheds.