In 1994, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) designated the area around Searchlight as desert tortoise critical habitat. In response, the BLM designated the area as an Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) for the conservation and recovery of the threatened desert tortoise. The Nature Conservancy (TNC) holds two conservation easements on the 40- and 120-acre parcels of the Walking Box Ranch, constraining and limiting the extent of development that may occur on the property. In 2004, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) received a Save America’s Treasures (SAT) grant to prepare a preservation and master plan for the property. The BLM acquired Walking Box Ranch with Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act (SNPLMA) funds in 2005. Assistance agreements were signed by BLM and UNLV in September 2008, formalizing the partnership by which UNLV assists BLM in the operations, future planning, and preservation of the ranch property.

The SAT grant monies were awarded to UNLV for preservation of the Walking Box Ranch and to fund a planning process to determine the appropriate uses for the buildings and site in the future. In undertaking joint management of the property with the BLM , UNLV had a vision for a facility that would serve both the academic community and the public. To this end, UNLV assisted the BLM in obtaining funding for two nominations through the SNPLMA program.

Under these nominations, which provide much of the funding for future work at Walking Box Ranch, the expressed goals for the ranch are twofold and are reiterated in the proposed project’s Purpose and Need statement: