Although they don’t have much interest in being the center of attention, Betsy and Roy Miller have garnered a lot of notice for the work they have done to protect one of Southern Nevada’s most treasured wild places — Gold Butte. Located between the Grand Canyon Parashant National Monument, Arizona, and Lake Mead National Recreation Area, just south of the City of Mesquite, Gold Butte is named for an early 1900s settlement that was little more than a tent city of a thousand miners.
But Gold Butte is much more than remnants of early American mining. The amazing area is rich in rugged mountains, Joshua tree and Mojave yucca forests, outcroppings of sandstone filled with petroglyphs, and braided washes that turn into slot canyons. It is home to abundant wildlife. Native Americans have depended on this area for sustenance, medicine gathering, and spiritual use for thousands of years. Recently, Congresswoman Shelley Berkley of Las Vegas introduced legislation to protect Gold Butte as a National Conservation Area with protected wilderness. The introduction of this legislation was due in large part to the hard work of Roy and Betsy Miller and the local conservation group, Friends of Gold Butte. This legislation would protect more than 350,000 acres of federal land in Clark County as a National Conservation Area, including over 128,000 acres that would be protected as wilderness.
When they retired in 2001, Roy and Betsy moved to the town of Mesquite after searching all over the west for the perfect spot to settle down. “We stopped in Mesquite for food and gas on our way to fly out of Las Vegas, and we fell in love,” explained Roy. They thought their location in Mesquite would provide a base for endless hikes and exploration in Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks in Utah. “We didn’t know what existed here in Nevada, but we weren’t here long before we discovered Gold Butte.”
Betsy Miller with ancient petroglyphs
The Millers immediately fell in love with Gold Butte and soon became volunteer site stewards for the Bureau of Land Management and later began working as volunteers for Friends of Gold Butte. For the past four plus years they have arguably spent more time in Gold Butte than just about anyone. “By spending so much time here, we have seen the damage caused by human activities, mainly damage caused by ATVs (All-Terrain Vehicles),” says Roy. The Millers have seen a lot of vandalism of cultural and historic sites and feel that mostly it is caused more out of ignorance than malice. People may have unwittingly driven over and flattened roasting pits, and built fires near cultural sites such as Indian shelters and petroglyphs. “There needs to be more efforts to better educate people so that they will take better care of the area,” explains Betsy.
The Millers note that the damage they have seen in Gold Butte this year has been particularly discouraging. The area is filled with historical artifacts including corrals built by ranchers in the late 1800s and early 1900s. They report that people are sawing down corrals to use the wood for camp fires. “This is like going to a museum, taking a piece of art home and burning it in our fireplace,” remarks Roy. “This entire area reflects the heritage of the people around here,” adds Betsy. “Local people’s grandparents and great grandparents were a part of settling this area, raising cattle and ranching. The Civilian Conservation Corps also had several projects out there.” In addition to cultural and historical damage, the Millers have also seen the destruction of protected Joshua trees, which have been dug up and burned in camp fires.
Besides appreciating the cultural and historical aspects of Gold Butte, it is also Roy and Betsy’s playground. They hike the area several times a week, and are always discovering new places and things. It is their love for the place, their recognition of the need to educate people about its importance, and their desire to stem the damage that led the Millers to become actively involved with Friends of Gold Butte.
Roy Miller in Gold Butte
A citizen-based organization working for the preservation and protection of historic, prehistoric, and natural resources in the Gold Butte area, Friends of Gold Butte has been a catalyst for protecting Gold Butte as a National Conservation Area including wilderness. Working with the group, the Millers help organize its monthly meetings, volunteer clean ups, and watering projects; they lead hikes, write articles for newsletters, manage the website, set up information booths at local events, and talk one on one with people about the magnificence and importance of Gold Butte. "Betsy and Roy are amazing and they have been to more places in Gold Butte than anyone I know," said Nancy Hall, President of Friends of Gold Butte. "I feel so fortunate and lucky to have them as volunteers; it really is hard to describe how valuable the work is that they do. I know that Gold Butte will be taken care of because Roy and Betsy are taking care of it." Roy and Betsy also serve on the Board of Friends of Gold Butte, helping to set priorities and a strategic focus.
“In retirement we’re busier than we’ve ever been,” laughs Betsy. In addition to all of their outreach work they have also participated in tours of the area with Nevada’s Senator Reid and Representative Shelley Berkley. They have given a number of tours to local reporters and visited the area with a writer from Condé Nast Traveler magazine.
In addition to their local work, the Millers traveled to Washington, DC, during Wilderness Week September 2008 to lobby for protection for Gold Butte. More recently, they attended the First Annual Rendezvous of Friends of the National Landscape Conservation System (NLCS). The NLCS was created in 2000 and includes National Monuments and Conservation Areas, Wilderness, Rivers and Trails — some of the most unique and pristine lands and waters entrusted to the Bureau of Land Management. “At the Rendezvous we got to meet with dozens of ‘friends’ groups from across the southwest, learned about fundraising, how to increase our membership, and what activities have proven successful for folks working to protect places special to them,” says Roy.
All of these experiences are helping the Millers become more effective advocates for the place they love. “We hope to work together with like-minded people, as well as other groups that have different opinions, to see Gold Butte gain protection, and I think it’s going to work out pretty well,” says Betsy. Roy adds that, “I am fond of telling people we do this for our children, our grandchildren and our great grandchildren. We want them to experience, in the future, what we are experiencing now. And that requires protection.”
