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Show Pine nut crop good in Nevada It looks like a good year for pine nuts in eastern Nevada, according to Phil Range, manager of the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) Caliente-Virgin Valley Resource Area. The nuts are small, edible -kernels found between the scales of the pinyon pine cone, Range explained. A good-sized cone can contain as many as two dozen nuts, he said. The cones sprout on the trees in the spring, grow large during the summer, and burst open during the cooler days and nights of autumn. The nuts usually pop out of the cones and carpet the ground below the tree. Range said he checked trees at Oak Springs Summit, Sum-mit, just west of Caliente, and found most had a good number of cones. Some had already burst, he said, and the nuts were scattered on the ground. He said a high , percentage of the nuts had good meat inside. Range said BLM does not require a permit for nut gathering for family or personal use. Commercial gatherers, he said, must have a permit which costs 10 cents per pound. Range said persons taking more than 25 pounds are generally considered con-sidered commercial harvesters. har-vesters. Pinyon pine trees are found on mountainsides throughout Southern Nevada, usually above the 6,500-foot level. Most popular areas in the past, according to Range, have been the Spring Mountain Range in Clark County, the mountains around Caliente in Lincoln County, and the hills near Lida in Esmeralda County. Range asked nut gatherers to restrict their vehicle travel to existing ( roads, trails, and washes to ' minimize damage to the land. |