17,000 acres purchased by BLM for public use More than 17,000 acres of prime wildlife habitat in the Granite Range, Buffalo Hills, Twin Peaks and Poodle Mountain wilderness study areas in northern Washoe County now belong to the public, using money from public land sales in Southern Nevada. After a five-year process, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management purchased the land for $7.25 million from Todd and Sam Jaksick of Reno. State BLM director Ron Wenker called the 17,493-acre acquisition one of the largest and most important wildlife initiatives under the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act....