UNLV Students Give Back to Public Lands during Alternative Spring Break

Published on Wed, Mar 26, 2014 (5:21 p.m.)

Submitted by Friends of Nevada Wilderness

Las Vegas – March 26, 2014 Friends of Nevada Wilderness, in cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and The Great Basin Institute, hosted the 4th Annual “Alternative Spring Break” volunteer and educational opportunity for UNLV students last week. Seven UNLV students, along with five volunteers from the public, gave four days and four nights in service to the National Desert Wildlife Refuge – the nation’s largest wildlife refuge in the contiguous United States. The event was made possible by a generous grant from REI. Volunteers planted mesquite trees, naturalized an illegal road and multiple road scars, and hiked out remnants of a decommissioned water guzzler.

The volunteer trip was the first camping experience for most of the students
who attended. These students, most of them environmental science majors, gained on-the-ground experience in the management and restoration work of desert landscapes. Alternative Spring Break complements their studies, as well as adds practical experience on their resumes. Guest speakers from University of Las Vegas, the College of Southern Nevada and the state of Nevada traveled each night to the Refuge to lecture on various related topics to the students, including plant life zones of the Refuge, climate change, and the effects of solar radiation on plant distribution in the Desert Refuge and Spring Mountains.

“Being in the desert with such passionate people is something amazing,” said Natasha Kotte, one of the students who attended Alternative Spring Break, “I feel more grounded…we’re doing things that make a difference!” Natasha is currently studying biochemistry at UNLV and is seeking a career on water purification and filtration.

Friends of Nevada Wilderness is the only statewide non-profit conservation organization dedicated to preserving all qualified Nevada public lands as wilderness, protecting all present and potential wilderness from ongoing threats, educating the public about the values of and need for wilderness, and improving the management and restoration of wild lands. The organization works closely with all four governmental agencies to put volunteers on-the-ground in wilderness areas throughout the state.