LAS VEGAS, Nev. - They are pioneers of conservation in Nevada, men and women who saw the warning signs 40 years ago that Red Rock Canyon needed conservation protection. Now, they believe Gold Butte needs similar help.
Back in the 1970s, Terri Robertson, Las Vegas outreach coordinator for Friends of Gold Butte, says she had no idea Las Vegas would grow to nearly 2 million people. But even when the city's population was more like 100,000, she says it was clear that Red Rock's natural landscape and cultural sites needed to be preserved.
Today, she believes the time has come to protect 300,000-plus acres of rugged mountains and sandstone in Gold Butte.
"Our population has increased so drastically, and studies show the need for the human being to have these kinds of places available to him or her to interact with nature. "
On Tuesday, Robertson will attend a reunion in Bonnie Springs, where Red Rock conservationists will discuss the benefits of getting National Conservation Area protection (with wilderness designation) for Gold Butte. Some off-road vehicle enthusiasts are concerned that such protection would reduce the number of local riding trails, but Robertson says her group seeks to balance current motorized recreation with nonmotorized uses of the area.
Gold Butte has started to show the wear-and-tear of increased visitation over the last five to 10 years, according to Nancy Hall, president of Friends of Gold Butte. That's why she says the push is on to protect the area, while the landscape is still primitive.
"If we can go ahead and get the designation and the management now, then we can work for preservation, education and interpretation, rather than just restoration work on the area."
Gold Butte is also home to Native American rock art and cultural sites, which have been subject to vandalism. Robertson says that's another reason the area needs protection.
"We have beautiful, beautiful petroglyph sites and pictograph sites there. We actually have a resolution from the Las Vegas Paiute Tribe in support of our federal designation for the area, because it is a traditional lifeway for them."
The reunion, to be held at the Saloon in Bonnie Springs, begins at 8:30 a.m.
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