Federal and local officials are investigating after over 100 piles of cremated human remains were reported on federal lands near a small town in Nevada.

The Bureau of Land Management confirmed to USA TODAY that cremated human remains were found outside Searchlight, Nevada. The agency said it is coordinating an investigation with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department into the cremains.

The investigation comes after a local news station, 8 News Now, reported on dozens of piles that appeared to be cremated human remains on a dirt road in the desert. The remains appeared weathered and pieces of zip ties and a broken urn were also found at the site, the outlet reported.

The BLM manages one in 10 acres of land in the United States, especially in the West, according to its website. The agency said in a 2011 memorandum that commercial entities are prohibited from disposing of cremated remains on BLM managed land, but "inquiries from individuals and families to scatter cremated remains should be handled on a case-by-case basis."

"Cremated remains are not considered a hazardous substance," the memorandum said. "However, 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."

The scattering of cremated remains by individuals is subject to applicable state law, the agency said. Nevada state law indicates cremated remains can be scattered at sea, over a public waterway, 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."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Piles of cremated human remains reported outside Las Vegas

Reporting by N'dea Yancey-Bragg, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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