What can Nevada learn from Utah?

While Utah has been torn apart by the fight over wilderness, Nevada has sat quietly on the sidelines. Nevada has nearly the same amount of public land under consideration for wilderness status - 5.1 million acres in 102 wilderness study areas scattered across the state.

Utah's political leaders thought they could ram a wilderness bill through Washington, but they got caught between a deeply divided public at home. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., says he won't make the same mistake and that nothing will happen until there's a compromise.

"The ranchers and miners and environmentalists have to sit down and figure out what they want," Reid says. "Otherwise it just stays in de facto wilderness. It seems to me it would be to everybody's interest to work something out." That will take time.

"Give it some time," says Brooke Williams. A passionate advocate of wilderness, Williams is also an economic consultant to rural communities. He tried to help broker a compromise between rural counties and environmentalists but was ultimately abandoned by both sides in the heat of the fight. "What went wrong in Utah was timing. The deadline made everyone panic. Get a discussion going without a deadline," he advises.

Steve Smith, the wilderness coordinator for the Bureau of Land Management in Nevada, says he'd like to see that happen "so that we don't get stuck having to referee a fight."