Introduction
The search for a new campus location to serve the future higher education needs of the citizens of Southern Nevada began in early 2000. The project was coordinated with the cities in the Las Vegas Valley, Clark County, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and Nellis Air Force Base. These efforts culminated in the selection of approximately 2,085 acres of open desert land in the City of North Las Vegas (NLV) running north from Clark County Route 215 about three miles between Lamb Boulevard and Pecos Road to the base of the Sheep Mountains.
The Carl Levin and Howard P. “Buck” McKeon National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015, (Act) was passed by Congress and signed into law by the President Obama (Pub.. 113-291 2015). The Act authorizes the Secretary of the Interior, BLM to make several conveyances of federal land to the Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) institutions (See 3092h of the Act). The Act authorizes the transfer of: 2,085 acres (the Land) within the CNLV on behalf of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV).
The land was once part of the Nellis Small Arms Range Annex and requires environmental remediation prior to conveyance to NSHE/UNLV because it contains contamination from previous military training exercises and military operations and has been designated for cleanup under the Formerly Used Defense Sites (FUDS) program. The Army is the lead agent for the program and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) executes the program on behalf of the Army and the Department of Defense.
