 Nevada Current reports earlier this week, Senator Catherine Cortez Masto sent a letter to federal land managers urging the Department of the Interior to implement a 20-year ban on new mining operations on public land surrounding the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, a critical wetland habitat that supports a dozen endangered and threatened species. Senator Jackie Rosen and Representatives Dena Titus, Stephen Horsford, and Susie Lee also signed the letter.