Steptoe WMA Opens More Than 7,100 Acres of Nevada Elk Country Access

Eastern Nevada is a reminder that public land on a map does not mean much if regular people cannot actually get to it. Around Ely, the Schell Creek and Egan ranges hold big country managed by BLM and the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, but scattered private parcels have made access a real problem.

RMEF says it partnered with private landowners and the Nevada Department of Wildlife to acquire 60 small parcels totaling more than 7,100 acres. Those pieces are now stitched together as Steptoe Wildlife Management Area, improving direct public access and unlocking better access to surrounding public land.

That is a serious win for hunters and wildlife. The area provides crucial summer range for elk and important habitat for mule deer, bighorn sheep, pronghorn antelope, greater sage grouse, migratory birds and plenty of other species. It is also open for hunting, fishing and other public recreation.

This is the access fight in plain English. It is not enough to say America has public land if roads, checkerboards and locked-up corners keep working families out. Every parcel that reconnects the landscape matters. Every easement and acquisition that turns landlocked ground into usable ground matters.

Hunters help pay for conservation, and they deserve places where they can put that investment to use. Steptoe is a good example of what happens when access is treated like a core part of wildlife management instead of an afterthought.