Most of the facilities are controlled by the United States Air Force and/or the Bureau of Land Management, and many of the controlling units are based at Creech and Nellis Air Force Bases (e.g., 98th SRSS for NTTR's southern range).

Initiated by a 1939 military reconnaissance for a bombing range,[4] federal acquisition began in 1940, and McCarran Field became the World War II training area's 1st of 3 Nevada World War II Army Airfields (cf.

[3] The highest ecoregion is in the Tonopah Bombing Range (FUDS) which includes a Central Nevada Bald Mountains ecoregion[5] in the Kawich Range—the southern Bald Mountains are within the NTTR between the TTR & Wildhorse Management Area.

[5] The Nellis managed airspace [3]: 4–13  associated with the complex is more than 12,700 sq mi (33,000 km2),[2] is the responsibility of the "US Air Force Virtual (USAFv), A3", and "is composed of the Desert MOA, with overlying Air Traffic Control Assigned Airspace (ATCAA), Reveille North and South MOA and ATCAA, [and] Restricted Areas":[10] The former Oil Burner/Olive Branch route ("OB-10-Hawthorne") for Strategic Air Command low-level bomber flights scored by the Hawthorne Bomb Plot extended from a "point west of Elko, Nevada, running southwest to Mina, Nevada" at flight level "FL130-140"[12] (the TTR sites for "SAC Targets 1 and 2"[13] are at Antelope Lake.

Lands for federal protection of natural resources include:[3] Military operations "when a tortoise is found in harms way" are suspended until it has been removed by an authorized biologist (e.g., dispatched by the Nellis AFB Natural Resources Manager), nesting surveys are conducted prior to military exercises for species protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and the BLM & USFS provide protections under the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act.