A passerby recently reported seeing dozens of small piles of what looked like cremated human remains on federal land near the small community of Searchlight in Nevada. The federal land managers subsequently opened an inquiry with the local police after confirming that the remains were indeed human. Even though Nevada doesn’t specifically outlaw the individual scattering of remains on public land, the sheer scale of the dump has raised questions about potential violations. The question now remains, who would scatter human remains in the Nevada desert in such great numbers?
The Discovery of the Human Remains in the Nevada Desert
According to reports, the remains were discovered on property managed by the Bureau of Land Management. The bureau confirmed that the piles were human remains and that an investigation was currently underway. However, they declined to provide any further details on the matter. Initial local reports stated that there were as many as 70 small piles of remains scattered in one area, while later reports stated that there were possibly as many as 100. However, those higher numbers have not yet been verified. According to one individual who contacted Las Vegas CBS affiliate 8 News Now, they discovered the site in late July already. Yet the bureau only publicly confirmed the piles on the 27th of August after images started circulating locally. Along with the masses of piles, footage of the scene also included what seems to be a broken urn and zip ties.
Is The Act Illegal?
There are no statutes in Nevada that prohibit individuals from scattering humans ashes on public land. However, according to federal policies regarding the governing of public land, commercial services are not allowed to dispose of human remains on public ground. As long as the act does not cause damage or disturbance, individual acts of scattering are allowed, but larger and repeated activities could require permits or not be allowed entirely.
The bureau also noted that while cremated remains aren’t considered hazardous material, such large-scale activities could interfere with other uses for the land. According to a 2011 memorandum, “the quantity of material associated with commercial distribution of cremated remains could preclude other land uses and may require designation and regulation of land as a functioning cemetery. This could require disposal of parcels of public land under appropriate authorities because the BLM does not manage functioning cemeteries.”
So, if you are part of a family that is scattering the ashes of a loved one on public land, you should not run into any problems. Yet, repeated and organized camping could potentially land you in hot water. If the current investigation reveals that the dumping was from a commercial practice, it could lead to consequences, as it would be considered unauthorized use of federal land.
The Investigation Continues
The bureau is now working with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department to try to figure out how the remains got there and whether any laws were violated. Currently, no responsible party has been identified, and no arrests have been announced. Much of the footage and images of the scene have come from local TV reporting, such as the footage of the piles in the desert broadcast by 8 News Now.
The footage clearly shows that the scale of the dump rules out any individual use, but rather some sort of operation. What happens next will depend on what evidence is eventually uncovered. The investigators involved in the case will have to determine whether a single operator repeatedly used the site or whether multiple operators contributed to the piles over time. If they find that it was the work of a commercial entity, the case would probably be treated as unauthorized land use under BLM rules.
The Bottom Line
This strange discovery of human remains in the Nevada desert is currently raising more questions than it has managed to answer. Yet it has brought to light a conversation about what is and isn’t allowed when it comes to scattering human remains in public spaces. For the majority of the public, the answer is pretty straightforward: it is not prohibited to scatter the ashes of your loved one on BLM land in Nevada. However, any commercial or large-scale dumping can potentially lead you into trouble. According to the Nevada state law, cremated remains may be scattered over a public waterway, at sea, by air, or “in an area of a dedicated cemetery from which there is no means of location or recovery and which is used exclusively for this purpose.”
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